


I steal a few breaths from the world, for a minute

by CRINGEJUM



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Twins, Family Dynamics, Gen, Pre-Canon, Video Game Mechanics, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 04:08:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 24,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29093988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CRINGEJUM/pseuds/CRINGEJUM
Summary: I could help you." on cue, the human pulls a tiny lever by the straps around his shoulders, and the mechanical wings spread out."You could kill me." Techno scratches his head."I feel like-" the human looks at him, dumbfounded. "I think there is a bit of miscommunication going on.""Or just healthy common sense…"Though the more he thinks about it, the more he finds the idea to go along with the human exciting.-Techno and Wilbur leave the Nether for the first time.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Technoblade & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot & Jschlatt, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade, Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit
Comments: 28
Kudos: 161





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hiii, this is one of my a bit more ambitious things, don't worry too much about it being unfinished, this can be read as a finished work I think!  
> Hope you enjoy

Techno's parents left early, and he never had any clue what happened to them. 

The only thing left by his side is someone he hesitantly calls his brother, someone full of smiles and emotion in the way taht Techno isn't-- Wilbur is more human than monster, so after long journeys he needs to sit down and he drags Techno with him, taking in the scenery of red. 

He gathers arrows after a fight and he makes food with a quiet smile and he bandages Techno's wounds like their mother maybe would have. He paces around when they stay at a place for too long and he bites his nails when they prepare for a fight and he cries when Techno doesn't listen to him

Techno envies and loathes Wilbur's humanity equally. Somewhere he realizes he should have the same amount of humanity inside him. 

But Techno can't afford to be human, with his bright hair and his sharp ears and his growing tusks, so he perfects sneaking and fighting, he learns from books that come from the overworld, he makes weapon after weapon, Wilbur leisurely mining the little gold veins they find on their way. 

When they find the purple portal somewhere along their journey, Techno advises to stay away from it. Wilbur agrees, looking at it longingly. 

Wilbur asks to take a break. They build a tiny hut out of the purple wood they found on the way here, and he hacks a hole into the wood with his golden axe, to keep an eye on the portal. 

So to ease his worries, he holds Wilbur when he sleeps, and he watches him carefully every time they walk past the purple portal, and he holds his breath when the portal wavers in a way it hadn't done before. 

He grabs Wilbur, in hindsight maybe a bit too harshly, and drags him behind the temporary base they built. Wilbur listens to him, of course. He clamps his mouth shut when Techno shushes him, and the portal continues to behave strangely. 

A man walks out. Looking more like Wilbur than Techno, his hair blond and his clothes green, mechanical wings on his back. 

A human. 

Techno has never seen the color green like this before. Vibrant, almost making the constant red around them obsolete. There are books in the Nether, and there is information passed down from intelligent lifeform to intelligent lifeform, so Techno knows one, two things, but he genuinely never realized that humans look like this. 

Like Wilbur. 

The overworld is supposed to be green. Is it all as vibrant as this? Is it not too violent on the eyes? 

Wilbur still has his hand clasped over his mouth, but his eyes water and his breaths come out in short, anxious puffs. He's restless and scared, maybe. 

The human seems to be looking at their temporary base, his eyebrows disappearing under his hair. He starts walking closer towards them, eyes still trained on the shoddy house. 

He has a sword and a bow. No shield, or at least not one at hand. Techno picks up his golden axe that he left next to him. Either he'll let the human walk up and discover them, or Techno strikes while the human is distracted. 

It's obvious which one he chooses. 

Completely silent, he launches himself at the human, golden axe glinting dangerously as he brings it down. 

To his surprise, he doesn't hit flesh. The impact of getting parried by the man's diamond sword reverberates in his arms, and he bares his teeth at the discomfort. He jumps one, two steps back, before going back to the offense. 

The man evades his attacks, not quite with ease, but without the clumsy helplessness of all the other creatures Techno has fought. He winces slightly every time the sharp diamond sword digs into his axe--gold is so soft in comparison to diamond.

But diamonds are a scarcity here, and Techno never held one in his hands. 

The human huffs in slight annoyance. While parrying another hard blow from Techno, he digs around the satchel on his side. 

As soon as he pulls out what he was searching for, Techno's axe falls to the floor. 

A gold ingot. The human throws it at him, and Techno catches it, cradling it carefully in his palms. It sets his heart aflame, even though he sees gold daily--it's always different when you're gifted gold. Like something is holding him in place, forcing him to consider the gift before being able to carry on. 

His mind chirps random words, all too loud and none comprehensive, so he doesn't even notice the human walking past him. 

He only drops the ingot once he hears a groan, and a thud. 

The human is lying on the floor, and Wilbur is pressing himself against the wood of their base, looking guiltily at the man. 

_ "Did you kick him?"  _ Techno almost laughs, picking up his axe again. He walks over to the human and points his weapon at him, gold ingot forgotten on the Netherrack. 

_ "He was getting close to my hiding spot. I panicked."  _ Wilbur looks distraught, still pressing himself against the hut.  _ "Don't kill him. I'll take his sword and we'll let him leave."  _

Techno stays silent for a few seconds, his axe pointing steadily at the man's neck. Then he moves a little, instead pressing on his wrist with the dull side of the axe. The human's hand goes slack, and the diamond sword falls out of it. Wilbur quickly grabs it. 

Techno takes multiple steps back, standing in front of Wilbur. The human still has his bow, but in close combat he can only do insignificant damage. Besides, he'd be dead before he can even pull it out. 

The man props himself up, eyes trained on the both of them. 

"You two are… humans?" 

_ "He speaks English," _ Wilbur whispers next to him.  _ "Convenient." _

English is the language that their parents used to speak to each other, and also the language that most of the books here are written in. Wilbur more or less forced him to learn English, even after Techno tried convincing him that translations would also be somewhere around. 

"We aren't humans," Techno says simply. 

"I was confused at first but-" 

"No humans live in the Nether. Leave before I put this into your head." he waves the axe around. 

The man stands up and dusts his green robes off. "I'm Philza."

Behind him, Techno can hear Wilbur repeat the name quietly. 

When the human realizes that this is the end of the conversation, he awkwardly walks back to his portal, sighing as he does. He clearly had something planned, and Techno and Wilbur both put a huge stop to that. 

He doesn't ask for the diamond sword back.

* * *

Wilbur says that the encounter tired him out, and that they should stay here a little longer. 

Techno bites back a comment about how he seems awfully chipper and not, as he claims, so tired. Instead, he hands his brother a potato and indulges him. 

The portal still stands there, mockingly. 

At least he has this diamond sword. It's shiny, and sharp, and it's nothing like the golden swords that he always used. He puts it on his back and promises to not use it too often. 

_ "I wonder why I could win against him. The human."  _ Wilbur leans lazily against their chest and looks out the hole in the wall, the portal in his line of sight. 

_ "You caught him off-guard."  _

_ "You did too."  _

Techno shakes his head.  _ "He went here, knowing that he could be attacked. But my fight caused tension, or stress, and winning that fight gave him a natural response of destressing. Relaxation."  _ his eyes wander to the portal too.  _ "Off-guard."  _

Wilbur nods. Even the slightest victory can put someone out of focus. 

They continue eating in silence. A quiet fire crackles outside. Techno crosses his arms and huffs tiredly. 

_ "Wilbur, open the chest."  _

He does as told. 

_ "There, the second golden sword--the one without the scratches. Take it with you. I got distracted and couldn't protect you. I don't want it happening like this again."  _

Techno thought about this the entire day. Looking back at the portal--this could definitely backfire. This could end horribly. 

_ "Techno, I can't use this."  _

He crawls next to Wilbur, carefully taking his hand, and guiding it to the hilt of the sword. His brother's wrist is tense, but Techno can see a glint of excitement in his eyes. Wilbur was never one for fighting, and he had no problems expressing that. It doesn't mean he doesn't see the value in it. 

_ "Don't use your wrist when you fight. Don't even use your arm. Use your whole body. You are never stationary while fighting. You move and move and move."  _ Techno stands up, and his red cape wraps around his shoulders like a reassuring hand.  _ "When you're not strong enough to fight someone, be smart. If you're not smart enough to fight someone, be strong. And if you aren't either of those--run until you find me."  _

When Wilbur looks up at him, it's a face of astonishment. Of admiration. 

Like he genuinely believes that Techno could save him from everything. 

The thought makes his stomach hurt.

* * *

They sleep two times before Wilbur brings up the sword again. 

_ "Just show me a good move. One that'll help me in most fights."  _

Techno never got taught by anyone how to use the sword. Only later, when he found interest in the book collection that Wilbur had been carrying with him, he read up about stances and strategies and strange people who fought even stranger--but they were good. 

Techno spent hours refining his sword and axe skills, and then he lost himself in the thought of facing someone unarmed, so he trained to fight with his hands for hours and hours and hours. 

This isn't learned in a few words. If Techno needs years, then Wilbur-

_ "In a heated situation, you seek openings." _

* * *

They sleep five times before everything goes south. 

Wilbur isn't next to him as he wakes up. He sits up as quickly as possible and tries shaking the lingering sleepiness off, but the sudden motion makes him dizzy, and he holds onto the wall. His nails dig painfully into the wood. He stands up and immediately looks out of the hole he cracked into their base. 

Wilbur stands in front of the portal. Not moving. 

The golden sword is by his hip on a makeshift belt. He stuffed uncooked potatoes into his bag. He holds a pickaxe. 

Wilbur is leaving. 

He's leaving. 

Techno grabs his diamond sword and storms out of the base, nearly falling into the ever-present fire outside. His knees hurt as he falls next to it instead, and he accidentally steps on his cape as he tries standing up again. 

By the time Techno is by his side, Wilbur turns around to look at him. 

_ "Wilbur!"  _

His brother is silent. He takes a step backwards, closer to the portal. His face, for once, is unreadable. 

_ "What are you doing!"  _

"Are you happy, Techno?" 

He reels, suddenly hearing the language that their parents used to speak. It hurts in a way that he never expected to. Not because it reminds him of his parents but-

It almost feels like Wilbur is rejecting him. 

_ "What do you mean?"  _

"Are you happy here?" 

Techno doesn't understand the question.  _ "We're living. We're eating. Why shouldn't we be happy?"  _

"Is that all that happiness is for you?" he puts his pickaxe on the floor, where it balances on its head for a few seconds before falling over with a soft noise. "We were born here. Do you want to die here too? Constantly running? Hiding? Fighting?" 

Techno still doesn't understand. They're living! They're still living, and they have each other. They're alive, and sometimes they listen to music, and sometimes they read books, and sometimes they laugh together. This should be enough. It is enough. 

_ "Let's go back to sleep, Wilbur. I'll make something good to eat for you. We can continue traveling after we wake up. You must be getting restless."  _

Wilbur laughs strangely, like he's forcing himself to. "No, Techno." a sharp noise and the golden sword is pulled from the cheap belt. "I'm going to the overworld." 

He takes a step back. Then a step forward. Again. Another step forward.  _ "Wilbur."  _

"I'm not going to die here. I'm not going to  _ live  _ here, Techno." he holds the sword like an amateur, and it shows in his eyes that he never had to use it. Seeing Techno slay piglins and other creatures is completely different from holding the sword himself. Especially when pointing it at his own brother. 

_ "Just put the sword down. Let's go back to our hut. We won't speak of this ever again if you don't want to." _

Wilbur's face scrunches up, angry lines between his eyebrows and his nose. With a yell he steps forward and slashes at Techno. 

He evades with ease. 

"How can you continue this! How can you sleep knowing that you'll be greeted by, by this when you wake up!" he spreads his arms, looking at his surroundings. Red, and hot, and dangerous. 

Techno holds his breath. This is no place for humans. 

Wilbur isn't human. Not completely. He should be as human as Techno, so why-

_ "Why!"  _ Techno stomps like a child, hands curled into fists.  _ "I want you to be safe, Wilbur. Why do you need to do this! I just, I just-"  _ he whines, no coherent sentence coming to mind. He just woke up, his mind is foggy, and he had zero time to think about any of this. Wilbur was never like this. He can hold grudges, and he can be angry, and sad, and plain stubborn, but he's never cold. 

For years and years, Techno looked after Wilbur, cared for him, and made sure he's safe. He indulged in his interests. He learned how to fight for him, and he learned how to make his favorite food, he made sure he slept well, he held his brother's health over his own. He-

Two steps forward, and he's in front of Wilbur. Almost automatically, he raises his fist and swings it across Wilbur's cheek. He barely used any power, but his brother, unbalanced and weak, still falls over from the punch. 

Wilbur cradles his face, hides his eyes. Techno looks down at him, struggling to sit up. 

He never punched Wilbur before. He never slapped Wilbur, or even harmlessly pinched him. He cared for Wilbur like he was made out of glass, shaking his hands after a fight before touching him, as if he could shake the violence out of them. 

Judging by the feel of the impact, nothing should be broken. It will bruise at worst. It will get the message through at best. 

He picks up the golden sword. After they sleep he'll give it back again. 

_ "Let's go back to sleep."  _

He waits until Wilbur stands up, and walks back to their base. His brother wordlessly follows him, dragging his bag and his pickaxe behind him. 

Wilbur doesn't look at him when they collapse in their pile of blankets. He doesn't say anything when Techno firmly grasps his hand. 

Techno closes his eyes, mind drifting back to sleep--he learned to fall asleep fast and efficiently--but before he can, he clears his throat. 

_ "You ask me if I'm happy here."  _ He looks at his brother. Wilbur glances down at him, but quickly looks away when they meet eyes.  _ "How can I be unhappy with you by my side?"  _

Wilbur chokes, lip trembling. Techno brings his other hand up to the red cheek. 

_ "Sorry for this. I don't know why I did that. I'm sorry."  _

_ "Don't apologize. Don't."  _

_ "Alright." _

Wilbur squeezes his hand. Techno squeezes back.

* * *

He is woken up by a strange noise. 

Wilbur isn't next to him, but in a corner of the room, holding one end of a thick thread he probably picked up or pulled loose from his clothes. The other end is pinched in between two wooden boards in their wall, likely put there by himself. With his free hand, he plucks the thread, and a low, slightly reverberating sound comes out. Wilbur pinches the thread somewhere in the middle instead of the end and plucks again. The same sound comes out, this time a bit differently--another note. 

After fiddling around a bit, he manages to play a simple melody, humming along as he tries to find the right notes. Techno watches silently. 

Wilbur sighs and pulls the thread out from between the wall. When he looks up, he sees Techno awake, sitting in the opposite corner of the room. 

_ "You're awake?"  _

Techno nods. He points at the thread, tilting his head. Wilbur laughs quietly. 

_ "I read this book and-"  _ he wraps the thread around his finger, and then unwraps it again.  _ "In the overworld, they have an instrument called 'guitar'. I… I want to play it."  _

Techno looks down. The back of his head hurts. They need to talk. 

_ "Why are you unhappy?"  _

Wilbur shakes his head. The thread twirls between his hands.  _ "I don't see a future here for us."  _

Techno doesn't answer immediately. He never thought about that. The future. Not like Wilbur does. 

About the near future, he thinks constantly. Do they have enough food, when will they reach a safe place, should they use their gold for a sword or an axe. He maneuvers around the place to get the more ideal living experiences, and he hoped it was enough for Wilbur. 

Wilbur clears his throat, and then in English, he speaks up again. It doesn't hurt half as much as it did in front of the portal. 

"We have no destination here. I don't see why we shouldn't go to the overworld." 

_ "Dangerous…"  _

"It's also dangerous here. It's dangerous everywhere. How do we know that the overworld isn't miles better than this place?" 

Techno looks down again. Techno can't even imagine living in the overworld. There are just too many factors that-

What if there's nothing edible for them on the overworld? What if they can't come back with the portal? What if they can't breathe there? What if they go through the portal and don't end up on the overworld at all? 

_ "Wilbur…"  _ he needs to let him down gently. He needs to explain all the reasons why it's a bad idea and why it could never world out. He needs to… 

_ "Wilbur, give me your books." _

* * *

'When I first entered the Nether, it was exactly as the village described it, just a hundred times worse. I wanted to jump right back home.' 

Techno worries the edge of the old book between his fingers. Wilbur looks over his shoulder, curious what Techno is trying to do. 

'My first idea was to find a food source, of course. Water already became a big problem since I couldn't take it out of my bag without immediately evaporating, but I hoped for other nutritional sources. The strange mushrooms here are edible, and when mashed together make good for a soup. Not tasty, but it does the job.'

The humans could ingest the mushrooms here, then. Not that it means much--it's entirely possible that Piglins have weaker stomachs than humans. 

'Nether warts are completely off the table. From the smell alone I could tell that it was toxic, and only at home I figured a slight use out of them--when brewed, they're edible. Not very nutritional, but I'll keep working on it. Maybe I'll figure something out.'

_ "Brewing…"  _ Techno read about brewing too, but he never looked deeper into it. It's been on his list for a long time now, though. His eyes flicker towards the portal. Maybe soon. 

'The best I could find were potatoes--they're exactly the same as the bad potatoes that I have at home. Same look, same taste, same smell, same everything. I don't know how they land here, or how they grow, but I find them left behind in chests.'

Techno perks up. This is good. This is interesting--something they eat here also exists on the overworld. He puts a little nick on that page, if he ever needs to find it again. Wilbur huffs behind him in annoyance, despite the book being in below-average condition anyways. 

Techno quickly flies over the next few pages, detailing the human scientifically breaking down what might be edible in the Nether. From Netherrack to Glowstone to--Techno scrunches up his nose--Soulsand, only to conclude in the end that it's really only the mushrooms and potatoes that they can eat. 

He stops at one of the later pages. This might be important. 

'As I came home today, a Piglin seemed to follow me. I angered him probably, and he was bolder than the other ones sitting around and jumped right into my portal. He seemed confused, but his rage was stronger than that, causing him to charge at me. I defeated him pretty quickly. It was just a shock to see him follow through. I did not know they could do that.'

Techno bites his nail. So Piglins can survive in the Overworld. They can go through the portal just fine. Besides that, the portal seems truly stationary. The author always seems to end up at 'home', and not just the Overworld. 

He gives the book back to Wilbur--this is the most use they'll get out of that one. It ends abruptly, in the middle of the page, after a short, 'I see a strange building from here. I will prepare and look at it closer tomorrow.' 

He picks up another book.  _ Comprehensive Collection of Flora and Fauna.  _ The cover of this book is hard and sturdy, in comparison to the other book. Techno leans back, opening a page. 

Too many books are littered at his feet--this is gonna take a long time.

* * *

His legs are unbelievably heavy when he approaches the portal. Wilbur, on other hand, seems to be so light on his feet, he might as well fly away. 

The purple portal towers over him. He takes Wilbur's wrist. 

_ "What are you gonna miss most about the Nether?"  _

Wilbur looks at the portal as well, grin on his face.  _ "I won't know til we leave this place." _

_ "Fair."  _

Seeing Wilbur basically explode with energy, he goes forward and tries touching the portal. 

It… doesn't feel like anything at all. His diamond sword is comforting against his side. Wilbur fiddles with the golden sword by his belt. 

One last time sharing looks with Wilbur, nodding. They step into the portal. 

The world, and Techno's stomach, turn upside down. 

He stumbles onto the floor. It's ...dark. And cold. 

It's so cold. 

He stays on the floor and curls into himself, teeth clattering at the sudden temperature drop. The cape around his shoulder does little to help. Wilbur stands next to him, mouth gaping open. 

"Techno, this is a cave!" walking over to the walls around them he starts touching the walls. "What is this block! It's so cold." 

Techno ceases the shaking, and he can focus enough to listen to his surroundings--behind him, the portal is still loudly announcing its presence with otherworldly sounds. To his right are Wilbur's frantic footsteps, and he glides his hands over the wall. To his left is… a strange, quiet, buzzing noise. 

_ "Wilbur, come here."  _

Wilbur turns around, quickly running over to his brother. "Why are you on the floor?" 

_ "Cold."  _

He nods and opens his back to get out more pieces of clothing. They both put on long-sleeved shirts, Wilbur a strangely colorful yellow one, and Techno an unnaturally pristine white one. Wilbur still shivers ever so slightly, but he seems to manage. Techno uses the wall next to him to pull himself up. 

"Take this." Wilbur shoves a blanket into his hands. Techno considers declining it. It's important for him to be warm enough to be able to fight, but the blanket might stunt his movement. It could get in the way of his legs, or he could accidentally step on it. 

They both stare at it for a long time, before Wilbur wraps around him, leaving his arms free. Techno opens his mouth to explain that it would restrain his feet, but Wilbur kneels down and picks up the end of the blanket, flipping it over Techno's shoulders like a loose jacket. 

He stretches out his arms. It's not perfect, but it's much better than freezing. It's good. 

Wilbur giggles as Techno twirls a little, testing how good it'll stay on, and Techno himself can't stop a quiet snort. 

There is only one clear path in this cave, with small niches in the wall that have unnatural markings on it, like they came from a pickaxe. As they get further away from the portal, the light emitting from it stops reaching them, and they slowly feel their way around forward. 

Between the sounds of the footsteps, the buzzing noise from before intensifies, especially with the noises from the portal getting sounding more and more distant. He shakes his head as if to shake the noise out of his ears. It helps slightly. 

_ "It's so quiet without the lava."  _

Wilbur smiles.  _ "It's so nice, right?"  _

Techno doesn't answer. 

It takes quite some time until their scenery changes, the floor turning steep and hard to hold onto. He pushes Wilbur up first, to a little terrace point in the stone he can safely stand on, and then climbs up himself. He repeats the process two times, until they hit something soft, with strange texture--way softer than even netherrack, which basically falls apart after hitting it with a pickaxe. No, this material can be pulled apart with hands only, so Techno starts digging. It gets under his nails, and a horrible shiver crawls up his spine at the feeling, but he bites down on his lip and stays quiet. 

Then, finally, his hand breaks through, and as he tears a bigger hole, he feels barely any resistance.

Light shines through, nothing like the lava or the fire in the Nether, not even like the lamps that stand around the bastions. Both he and Wilbur squint, the light burning into their eyes. He pushes his hair over his eyes. 

Wilbur crawls out first, laying down flat on the floor, face in hands. Techno is right next to him, rubbing his eyes until he can see strange patterns on the inside of his eyelids. 

His brother laughs, arm over his face.  _ "This is awful!"  _ he laughs some more. 

Techno pants, pulling his sweater up to his eyes. With his hands he looks for the hole they just dug, and carefully crawls back. He sits down on a slope with the soft material, and his eyes water as he sits there. 

_ "Techno, come back. You'll get used to it in a minute!"  _

He shakes his head, biting on his lip again. He needs to recover from this first. 

Remembering the books he read, Techno slowly calms himself down. The cycle of night and day should be in his favor, with darkness covering the lands after the sun disappears--he doesn't quite know how this happens, but it does. 

_ "Wilbur?"  _

A head pokes into the hole and Techno blinks up at Wilbur's silhouette.  _ "Yeah?"  _

_ "Do you remember reading about the sun?"  _

His brother nods. 

_ "Don't look directly at it but if you got used to the light enough--tell me where the sun currently is, okay?"  _

Wilbur sits up, looking around.  _ "I can only see half of it!"  _

So it's near the floor. That either always means that day has just started, or that it's about to end. 

He leans back into the soft material with his hand on the diamond sword hilt--it must be dirt he's surrounded by, right? He's read up on this. Most of the land in the Overworld is covered in dirt, with the few exceptions of deserts, which have sand or snow. What isn't land is water, and the only thing he can use to conceptualize this are, well--he prods around his eye a little, but it seems to have recovered from the barrage of light, no longer tearing up. But he's seen Wilbur cry often enough, so he just has to imagine a sea full of Wilbur's tears to know what an ocean looks like. He frowns. He doesn't quite want to imagine that. 

Wilbur seems content with staring at the sky while Techno is remembering all the things he read for this new journey. Techno _will_ try to get used to the light, very, very soon--but before they have a semi-safe place to stay, Techno wants to have the advantage in this world. Proper eye-sight seems important for that. 

_ "Wilbur, tell me if the sky gets brighter or darker, alright?" _

* * *

Night luckily falls, and they quickly get to exploring. 

It's overwhelming, being bombarded with sensory input after sensory input--so many new things to see, smell, touch, hear--but Techno grits his teeth and ignores the budding headache. Wilbur keeps looking around in wonder, mouth wide agape. 

"This must be the plains, right? It looked like that in the drawing." 

Techno looks around and then shakes his head. "Not plains. Look around, the trees here, how they grow." 

Wilbur holds out his hand, imitating a diagonal line going up. The trees don't grow completely vertically. 

"Savanna," Techno concludes. "The sand deserts are near Savanna's often. The books say we don't want to go there without preparation, since you can barely find any food there, and will easily get lost." 

Wilbur nods. They stop in front of one of the trees. "What else did the book say? What do we do?" 

Techno recalls one of the more straightforward and comprehensive guides. A bright yellow book, with a strange character drawn on the front.  _ Adventuring for dummies!  _

It was something along the lines of, 'finding and chopping wood is always your first move. Your first night alone in the wilderness should not be spent outside--you want to build a small protective hut for yourself.' 

Techno and Wilbur have been building little cottages for years. He raises his golden axe and greedily takes every bit of the red wood that he can get. Wilbur stands to the side, watching the wood in fascination. Just like they did with the wood in the Nether, they chop it down even thinner, into compact boards that are easier to build with. 

The actual building is an old tale that they have told over and over again. 

Wilbur lays down on the soft grass inside their first Overworld house, and smiles as he takes out a lantern they once stole from another Piglin. He gingerly places it into a corner. Techno sets up a chest. 

Something unsaid is between the brothers, but neither brings it up. 

"The stars… Techno, can we put a small hole in the ceiling to see the stars?" 

Techno frowns. "Not today. Sorry. We can't have any leeway in our safety. Not today." 

He shakes his head. "It's fine. Tell me what we should do next. Tomorrow." 

"The next thing the book mentioned, is looking for coal."

* * *

Breathe in, breathe out. 

Wilbur never fell asleep before him. He feels strangely…strangely alone. Logically, he has to assume that someone else is awake right now. Somewhere far away, someone must not sleep yet. 

Yet it almost feels like he and Wilbur are the only people on the planet right now. 

Breathe in, breathe out. 

His side where Wilbur leans into him is warm, while the other side is cold. He doesn't know if he can stand up to get blankets without waking up his brother. 

The strange buzzing noise in his ear is now louder than ever, with everything asleep. He grits his teeth. 

Breathe in, breathe-

He puts a hand over Wilbur's face. Why does he have to breathe so loudly? Why does the wood creak in the wind? Why won't the dumb buzzing stop?!

He rips himself away from Wilbur, who just makes a tired noise, curling into himself. 

Techno grabs three, four, five blankets, and lays down on the other side of the hut, which isn't very far. One blanket, he holds over his ears, trying to drown out any noise. 

The beeping doesn't get quieter. No, it's almost as if it is getting louder. Louder and louder, and Techno wants to screech into his pillow. 

The ground is too soft. The wood smells weird. The noise of blubbering lava is gone. It's too cold. He's hungry. He's tired. 

He's overwhelmed. 

Through the gaps in the wooden boards, sunlight seems to slowly seep through, and with dry eyes, Techno manages to get two hours of sleep.

* * *

There is something frustrating about stone. It takes way longer to mine than netherrack. Plus it wears down his golden pickaxe much faster. He only has two others left. 

Coal, at least, is easy to find. Once you find one sticking in the wall, you'll find so much more behind it. He even finds what he later concludes is iron. All in all, it's a productive second day. Wilbur yawns when they put together their profit of the day, a content sparkle in his eyes. 

"Furnace. We'll need one for the iron." he hands Wilbur the cobblestone he gathered. Materials like iron are apparently good for tools and weapons, many books even citing that it's stronger than gold. 

He fiddles with the hilt of his sword. Having diamond tools sounds close to impossible, having lived his whole life without even touching a diamond, but… 

The furnace is ready, and both Techno and Wilbur contently listen to the iron melt. They should cook their potatoes too--but not before trying to plant at least some of them. 

"I wanna look for animals." Wilbur watches the hot iron harden slowly. "Not just for food but… y'know, just to see them once." 

"I'm sure we'll see them many times, Wilbur." 

His brother smiles. The iron seems to be done.

* * *

Wilbur is curled into his side, chest rising and falling as he slept in before Techno once again. 

The day was productive, so Techno laid down fairly satisfied, but the more he wanted to sleep, the more restless he seemed to become. 

His legs feel tense, like he could be ready to jump up every moment, but no danger is near. His knuckles turn white when he grabs the blanket, just to hold onto something. 

The noise in his ear is louder than ever. 

Every time when he's close to sleeping in, it seems to distort and change, something uncannily close to spoken language, that it rips Techno wide awake every time. 

He drags his hands over his face. The sun is rising once again, and Techno gets two and a half hours of sleep.

* * *

Wilbur's day consists of trying to get a sheep inside their house, while Techno watches their small potato farm they made. Small green sprouts stick their head out of the ground, and Techno feels strangely warm, looking at the plant. He looks left and right, and then behind, and when Wilbur is nowhere to be seen, he leans down and asks the sprouts to grow fast and healthy. 

When they found the water a bit further from their hut, Wilbur excitedly pulled up his pants and waded in knee-deep. Techno stood at the shore, continuously reminding him to be careful. Neither of them knew how to swim. 

Wilbur nodded, and stood on the spot, before sitting down with a splash, getting all his clothes wet. The air filled with laughter of delight, and Techno just crouched down and stuck his hand into the water. 

It was nice. They took some with them, for the potato farm. 

The day ends with a sheep running far, far away from them, and Wilbur ruefully, but acceptingly watching it leave.

* * *

The skin on his cheeks is scorching hot. He imagines submerging his head in the water outside, and it quietly hissing as it cools down. His nails scratch one spot on his arm until it rubs even the skin away, causing the spot to be uncomfortably damp. It burns, and he wants to submerge his arms now too. The back of his head is pulsing, together with the heartbeat he hears in his ears. The insistent noise seems to dance around the rhythm, like leaps, big arches, landing on the beat of his heart, louder and quieter. 

His eyes are wide open, and his legs ready to run. 

Tears of frustration well up when he sees the morning sun, and Techno gets one hour and fifteen minutes of sleep.

* * *

His diamond sword is heavy by his side when he walks through the Savanna. 

Wilbur was tasked with filling up all the buckets they made with water, and then watering their potato farm. They're running out of the potatoes they took with them alarmingly quick. 

Techno doesn't want to put all his money in one basket, so the farm can't be their only life-line. If he finds something else that seems edible, it won't hurt too much to try it. In small amounts, so even if it is poisonous for them, it won't be too hard for their body to clean out again. 

Fruits and vegetables have a hard time growing in dry climates, that's what the Flora and Fauna book said. Animals on the other hand… 

The diamond sword is heavy by his side. 

Noises in his ears tune into the background, not prioritized over the loud insects or the sound of rustling leaves. He vaguely keeps in mind where Wilbur is at all times, so there is no danger of getting lost--but Techno has traversed places in the Nether with much less natural guides, so he doubts that there is much to worry about. 

As the sun stands high above the grass, shining straight down, that's when Techno hears it. 

To his right, quiet and small. A chicken. 

Techno stops in his tracks and changes course, walking over to it, with heavy yet silent feet. The bird sits under a tree, likely tired from the afternoon sun and seeking rest in the shade. 

Techno stands behind it, sword raised up high. His hands shake, and he brings it down without a sound. 

The chicken cries out but is dead within seconds. 

The white feathers turn red and the body goes limp. 

The white feathers turn red. The white feathers turn-

Techno's stomach lurches and he falls to his knees. Bile comes up his throat, and his eyes and nose burn uncomfortably. The white feathers turn red, and when he removes the sword the spot only gets bigger. 

The noise grows stronger, and he can feel it behind his eyelids, he can feel it in his head, burning him from the inside out, and then it's no longer a noise. It's an awful harmony, a mechanical choir, humming and singing, and the lyrics etch themselves into Techno's mind. 

_ Blood for the Blood God.  _

_ Blood for the Blood God. _

* * *

"I watered the garden." 

It's buzzing and talking and screaming now, and the only thing he can focus on is his hair falling into his face. Impulsively, he wishes he could cut it all off. 

"And, and I saw a sheep again. I think it was a different one. I didn't run after it because you asked me to stay home." 

And the more he tries to listen, the less he understands. The voices are all different but indistinguishable from one another. He doesn't know what they're telling him. 

"What do you want to do with those feathers? Is that all you went out for?" 

The voices call Wilbur a liar in the same breath they plead to Techno to protect him, and the singing gets louder and louder, an incessant  _ Blood for the Blood God,  _ an occasional  _ Skulls for the Skull Throne,  _ and Techno doesn't want to know what either means. 

"Techno?" 

He lays down. The turmoil in his head makes his limbs ache, and every part of his body finds comfort in laying down except his mind. 

"Good night, then." 

The sun sets, and the night passes, and Techno does not spend a single minute of it asleep.

* * *

Dizzy and tired, he asks Wilbur to stay home until he comes back. His brother sighs quietly, and the noise grates at his ears. 

He can't remember when it was so hard to put one foot before the other. It feels like hours until their hut is out of sight. 

The whispers in his ear sends a shiver up his spine. He continues walking. The sky is endlessly blue. His diamond sword reflects the sunlight right onto his path, a little white dot always a few steps ahead of him. The way is very clear to him now, and he follows the dot with hazy eyes. 

It takes hours or seconds until he finds what he is looking for. 

If the hole he dug is bigger than before, he doesn't notice. If the slope he and Wilbur climbed up is just slightly easier to use, he doesn't notice. If the cave is now lit up with torches, even if it wasn't before, he doesn't notice. 

All he notices are the gurgling otherworldly sounds from the purple portal, the weight of his sword, and the loud, louder voices. 

At the sight of the portal they start singing, a cacophony, an orchestra with broken strings and rusted instruments, a voice so old and unused it coughs up dust. It yells at him to run to Wilbur, and it screams at him to go through. He stumbles forward and sits down in the portal, cheek pressing against the obsidian. 

Louder and louder and  _ stay  _ and  _ go  _ and  _ Wilbur  _ and  _ Blood God  _ and the portal turns and turns and louder and louder and louder and-

Gone. 

Like a switch was flipped. So silent, it pushes all the air out of his lungs, just for him to realize how easy it is to breathe again. So warm, but not dry like in the Savanna, so noisy, but not disruptive like in the Overworld, so familiar, and so right. 

The hut he and Wilbur left behind is still there, completely unchanged, and with shaking feet he carries himself inside. 

There are no blankets and no pillows, but he curls into himself in a corner, and as soon as his head hits the floor, the reins of consciousness fly out of his tired hands. 

There is no way to tell how time passes in the Nether, but a worried Wilbur in the Overworld will note that ten hours and twenty-five minutes are much too long for Techno to be out and about.

* * *

A strange feeling zips around his chest as he listens to the bubbling lava outside. 

Almost like he's paralyzed, he lays in the corner, not moving since he woke up. His limbs feel refreshed--his mind needs a minute or two. 

The day starts out wrong in many ways, but his legs still work when he stands up, and he puts one foot in front of the other. The diamond sword is secured by his side, sharp and gleaming as ever. 

In a chest they've left behind are still some excess potatoes they couldn't fit in their bags, and he leans on the wall and takes a generous bite. He scratches one of his tusks, a yawn stuck in his throat. A second potato is in his hand, and he offers it to-

Wilbur. 

The feeling zipping around in his chest grows wilder, unkempt and rushed, and he quickly identifies it as fear. Worry. 

How long has he been in here? Is Wilbur still waiting on him? Did he leave? 

He paces in front of the portal. Wilbur must be still waiting for him. He told him to. He asked him to. And there's no way that Wilbur would just leave the one place they could meet up in again. 

If he left, it's near impossible to find him again. 

He spits out the bit of nail he accidentally bit off and stares at the portal. There's just really one way to solve this. 

The hilt of his sword is warm from how often he keeps brushing over it with his thumb, and he jogs towards the portal-

Just to crash with something else right as he's trying to go through it. 

_ Green,  _ he thinks, and his second thought is  _ fight.  _

It's the human, the human with the hat and the mechanical wings, and Techno can't imagine that he would be happy to see him. 

"You-" 

The man holds a diamond sword. Techno traces the hilt of his own once again. Maybe… maybe… 

Techno charges, and pushes the man out of his way. He only stumbles a few steps away, but it's enough for Techno to access the portal and leave. 

The man turns around to stare at him with wide eyes, but before he can move, Techno is back on the overworld. 

His steps echo through the cave as he runs. The torches flicker, dancing to the music that the noises play. It's quieter and manageable, but it's there, buzzing in his head. 

He dries his sweaty hands on his pants and starts climbing up the slope once again. Footsteps behind him grow louder and louder. 

The stone is cold and smooth to the touch, with protruding tips pricking into his clothes. 

He reaches the dirt once again, and his fingers dig into it, trying to find a foothold. The stone stabs into his knee, and he quietly yells out, but the footsteps are right behind him. He keeps climbing. 

The human seems to say something, but it gets lost in the echo of the cave. Techno gasps when he's back on the surface, breathing heavily before starting to run again. A quick look over his shoulder shows the human standing by the hole, hand leisurely hanging by his side. He looks back forward-

And then. 

Then he trips. Horribly. Face on the floor, hands torn open by the pebbles in the dirt, air pressed out of his lungs. A shadow casts over him. He sighs. Running has never been the right option. 

"Need help, mate?" 

Techno turns his head sideways and cracks open one eye. What a weird way to say it, and so kindly too. 'Help'. Like he needs help dying. 

"Don't kill me," he tries. In the end, all he needs to do is survive. Even if he loses everything, he'll still be alive. "Take back the diamond sword. Don't kill me." 

"I meant, do you need help getting up." the human laughs awkwardly. 

"Oh." Techno rolls around, lying on his back. "I'll be fine." he sits up, and with slightly wobbly legs he dusts off his clothes. The man tilts his head. 

Techno looks around. He needs to know where Wilbur is--but every part of the Savanna looks so similar. 

"Where's that, uh, your buddy?" the human fiddles with the mechanical wings, cleaning out sand in between the bronze feathers. 

"Looking for him." he spins, but it all swims into one. Every direction is Savanna. 

The voices all say contradictory things, and he's unable to tab into his own thoughts. They just seem too quiet. 

"Lost? I could help you." on cue, he pulls a tiny lever by the straps around his shoulders, and the wings spread out. 

"You could kill me." he scratches his head. 

"I feel like-" the human looks at him, dumbfounded. "I think there is a bit of miscommunication going on." 

"Or just healthy common sense…" though the more he thinks about it, the more he finds the idea to go along with the human enticing. If he's truly not someone dangerous--it would just be a big advantage to have a tour guide by his side, more or less. Though he never dealt with humans. He doesn't know how they work--maybe him helping him now, will result in some kinda debt to him. But maybe the human is also genuinely kind. No way to know, really.

Well.

Maybe Wilbur would know. Wilbur read all the abandoned human journals they've found. And Wilbur just seems to be… more human than Techno in general. He'd know. He would. 

"I need help finding my brother."

* * *

Philza--Techno finally remembered his name--comes back 15 minutes later, after pointing some fireworks on the floor and boosting himself up. He scouted the area after Techno told him what their base looks like, and found it fairly quickly. He lands in front of Techno and gives him a general direction. 

"Though I can come with you in case you don't find it." 

Techno nods. That's exactly what he should do. They walk side by side, Techno's hands clasped behind his back. 

"So, uh." Philza is a head taller than him, but to be fair, Techno hasn't stopped growing yet. The human eyes him. "What's your guy's names?" 

"Technoblade. My brother is Wilbur." 

"Philza." he nods. "What was your guy's deal then? What were you looking for in the Nether?" 

"We lived there." 

"Liv- and. And what do you do here in the Overworld now?" 

Techno scratches his cheek. "Living here now." 

"And…" 

"Horrible." he looks at the floor. "I was never at any other place besides the Nether." 

Silence falls over them. The morning sun is hot on their backs, but Techno has quite the tolerance for heat. 

"Why do you stay here, then? If it's horrible." 

Techno doesn't answer immediately. There is really only one reason why he does most of the things he does, and that reason is not survival. Not his own, at least. 

"Wilbur… seems much happier here." 

"Your brother." 

"Twins." he smiles. "We're twins, actually."

The human forms an 'o' with their mouth. Their walk turns silent again. The sky turns brighter by the minute.

* * *

Wilbur opens one eye, and then the other. They're sticky, and red-rimmed, and his pupils shrink at the light in the room. 

"Wilbur." Techno taps his cheek, trying to wake him up gently. His brother's expression changes comically slow. 

"Techno!" he throws himself at his brother, arms awkwardly wrapping around his shoulders. "Where were you! I was waiting for you so long." 

"Sorry." Techno smooths down Wilbur's disheveled hair. "I got lost." 

"You never get lost," he mutters, barely loud enough to hear. The hug lasts a few moments longer before Techno pulls away. 

"I had someone help-" 

"Who's he?" 

Philza stands next to the door, hands curled into each other as he avoids watching the scene unfold. When Wilbur points at him, he perks up, head snapping towards them. 

Techno lowers his head, quietly speaking in a language that the man surely won't understand.  _ "The diamond sword, Wilbur. He's the guy I got the sword from."  _

Wilbur’s eyes open in recognition. 

_ "Help me with him, alright? It would be good to have him on our side, but I don't know if I can trust him."  _

His brother nods. He sits up a bit straighter. "Stay a bit. You helped Techno? Stay a bit. I'll make food." 

"That's fine, that's fine! I have plenty of food at home." 

Techno raises his eyebrows. "You live somewhere here?" 

"Well, not exactly. A biome over, there through the desert." 

"We haven't ventured out very far. We wouldn't know." 

Philza nods. "Do you wanna see, maybe? I'd imagine the plains have much more resources than the savanna." 

Techno and Wilbur exchange looks. This could be it--that could be the perfect opportunity. Techno nods at Wilbur.  _ "Take the lead."  _

"We're almost all out of potatoes… it would be pretty good to have a more nutritional biome."

Philza's face seems to light up. "Oh, don't ever worry about food! Really, don't!" he grins widely, showing a fairly harmless set of human teeth. "I have plenty, I can share." 

Wilbur and Techno share another look. Something--something just seems foul about this. But who are they to decline such an offer?

* * *

The trip takes half a day. The plains have much more going on than the Savanna, with flowers, and grass so green, it might make Techno's eyes pop. He can look far out, since the plains lack mounds and hills. In the distance he sees white trees, and many of them. The big house is also easily spotted. 

"I travel a lot." The wings on Philza's back are folded into themselves, and the intricate mechanisms catch Techno's eyes more than once. "But I've decided to settle down. At least until adventure calls out to me again." 

Techno looks over at Wilbur. He seems starstruck by the new environment. The voices are suspicious of Philza--rightly so, Techno thinks. "You got those wings on your travels?"

He nods. "My prized possession. Don't know who I'd be without them." 

Both their swords glint in the sunlight. Clearly Philza is  _ someone _ , with or without the wings. Even without armor, or a shield, or bow, he seems to be clearly someone. 

Techno eyes the human, thinking how to ask this the most unassuming way. "You do this often? Help strangers." 

"I've never gone as far as inviting people into my home, but…" when Philza looks at Wilbur and Techno, he seems to see something that they don't. "Well, I've never met many kids like you when I was traveling." 

Techno looks at the man that is barely a head taller than him. Everything about him just seems strange. When he and Wilbur ended up in Piglin villages by accident, they'd maybe get some food at best. At worst they'd get axes swung at them. Piglin are quick to anger, and only truly care about the people they call family. 

So why did this guy just come up, all ready to offer them a place to stay at? 

They have to be careful. Wilbur nods. 

Philza speaks up, unaware of the quiet conversation between the twins. "How old are you guys?" 

"Don't know." Time is weird in the nether. There is no real, or easy way to measure it. There is no cycle of night and day, or rotations around the sun. All there is, is the time you want to sleep and the time you wake up. 

"Actually," Wilbur says. "I might know." he proceeds to tell Philza a few numbers. 

Philza seems to understand. "So you're… 13?"

They both shrug. Techno turns to Wilbur.  _ "Our birthdate? You remembered?"  _

_ "Mhm. I thought that it'd maybe come in handy some time."  _

One of their parents surely mentioned it once. Techno didn't bother remembering, thinking that he'd never be able to do anything with that information. Wilbur thought differently, apparently. 

They arrive at the house, and Philza opens the door with a creak. He let's both of them in. 

"Take your shoes off at the door. This is the kitchen and dining room." 

Techno and Wilbur look at their boots, which are basically part of their armor. They aren't wearing chest plates or helmets, so it barely protects them, but it still doesn't feel good to give up part of their protection. 

The shoes clink as they land on the wooden floor.

* * *

Philza is very kind about their worries. 

When Techno shares with him that he doesn't know what they could eat or not, he immediately offers them help. He doesn't regard his leftovers and instead starts making a new meal from scratch, all with ingredients they should be able to digest without worries. 

Philza is very kind about anything, really. Just three days into staying at his house-

_ ("You don't have to sleep in the living room, really. I wanted to make either the attic, or the basement into storage. You can choose one as your room."  _

_ "Basement," Techno says, at the same time as Wilbur says, "Attic."  _

_ The two glare at each other. Philza laughs.  _

_ "Boys, boys. It's alright, you can have both rooms.")  _

When Techno mentioned that he misses the sounds of the Nether-

_ ("We can make a little lava pool in the basement, if that's what you'd like. Of course make it safe and all, ha." The human fiddles with the bronze wings hung up on the wall. "Would you like that?"  _

_ Techno nods, his tongue suddenly too heavy to use.)  _

The more Philza seems to do, the more Techno thinks that there might not be a catch at all. This might just be how humans operate. 

The voices say otherwise. 

It's when he tries using a knife to get a tiny slice of bread, then half it, then quarter it. Just to see if he could stomach it. That's when they cry out, sensing Philza behind him, glancing over his shoulder to see what's happening. 

_ Kill him _

Techno stops in his tracks. The knife shakes in his hand, so he puts it down. His head snaps back. 

"Philza?" 

"Hm?" 

He blinks. The man isn't doing anything. He's just watching, most likely because he has nothing better to do. Techno shakes his head and pops the tiny piece of bread into his mouth. 

It's good.

* * *

He hears Wilbur before he sees him, the loud excited footsteps running down the stairs to the basement. Techno puts down some dry book about tree variants he found in Philza's bookshelves and straightens up. 

"I think I finally got it," Wilbur pants, a book pressed firmly into his chest. He clears his throat.  _ "The reason why Philza acts like that,"  _ he says, secretive, in their language. 

Techno's ear twitches. He makes space on his bed, and Wilbur sits down. 

His brother opens the old journal on a seemingly random page--a hand-written one, and one that Techno thinks he once flipped through, out of boredom. It must've been a long time ago, when he read it. 

Wilbur glances at Techno, before reading. 

"'My wife keeps making strange remarks about the neighbors family. Squealing when she sees them holding the new-born, and leaning over the fence to ask how the baby is doing. She saw a toy in the market today, and I swear I saw her eyes glistening. She must be down with a bad case of baby fever.'"

Techno reads through the text again himself. "Baby…fever?" 

Wilbur nods. "I read some more, but the gist is, basically, when they're afflicted with the fever, they start wanting to parent a child." 

"And after the fever goes down?" 

"No clue… the author only wrote a few pages on that and then went back to their studies." 

Techno sighs. He grabs the journal, and inspects the leather bound. It's quite old. Older than himself, maybe. 

Wilbur scratches his head. "But it's just a theory I had. Doesn't have to be true, I guess. I'll continue reading the journals we found." 

He climbs up the stairs, taking two at once. Techno is left with the old book in hand. He flies through the pages once again. 

When it isn't about keeping tabs on the animals they keep, it's all about the author's wife, or their newly found interest in the Nether, or the neighborhood gossip. One page about the Nether in particular-

He remembers this page. He forgot about it but now seeing it again--he remembers. 

Like a complete switch in personality, letters so big they cover half of the page, pencil pressed so deeply into the paper it presses into the next side--and ripped at one part. He holds his breath, and he barely needs to decipher the first word to know what it says. 

' _ Blood for the Blood God'  _

Techno runs cold. He flips onto the next page. The letters are smaller, but still shaky and hardly legible. 

'The nether is taking a toll on me. I never should've come here. I need to get back. I need to get back to my wife.' 

Techno flips the page again. 

Nothing. 

Next page. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. 

That is the end of the entries. A shiver runs up his spine, and he leaves the book by the table next to his bed. It's what should be expected, really. Finding hand-written books can only mean the person found their demise in the Nether, or ran away in haste from something. There'd be no real other reason to leave behind their journal. 

That's why all the books they found end abruptly, hastily. It just makes sense. 

He pulls the blanket over himself and is relieved that the voices didn't freak out at the journal. He closes his eyes. 

It's better if no one knows. The voices will be his secret, and it'll be just fine. 

Just fine.

* * *

Early in the morning, and the sun casts long shadows. Techno helps Philza chop wood. 

"Winter is nice-" chop. "But cold. You read so many books--what do you know about winter?" 

"...no cold weather in the sand desert. It gets cold at night, though. No warm weather in the snow desert. Plains, um." chop. "Get cold in winter." 

"They do! And it starts snowing sometimes." 

"Animal's fur turns thick." chop. "Some sleep very long." 

"Hibernation." 

"Yes." 

Silence. The axe is heavy in his hands, not because of its actual weight. The voices are eerily silent. 

They round up the wood, and Philza deems it enough for the day. He shows him the oven. 

"It's not cold enough for a fire yet, but…" 

He starts a little flame, and after a few minutes it starts getting bigger. Techno sits in front of the fire, the flickering and dancing of the flame strangely calming on his eyes. Wilbur takes a seat next to him, head leaning on Techno's shoulder. 

_ "Are you happy, Wilbur?"  _

His brother smiles. In his back pupils, the fire reflects, wild and energetic.  _ "With you by my side, always."  _


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is like, a 3 year skip after the first fic  
> does anyone else remember at the festival where schlatt was kinda like "Techno u owe me a favor" and it was obviously just improv and he then made a joke about minecraft mondays but it kind of invested my brainrot mind, so that may explain one of the plotpoints in this chapter  
> HOPE YOU ENJOY!!!

Someone knocks on the front door, so Techno puts away the book he's reading with a sigh, adjusting his glasses. It's evening, and one particular person has been missing since noon so--it's not a big mystery who this could be. 

"Wilbur." he opens the door and is immediately swarmed by two, head-to-toe wet teenagers, running past him into the house. "Take off your shoes. And don't drip so much water on the floor it's gonna--I'm gonna get towels. Hello, Schlatt." 

The ram hybrid only gives him a grin, wringing out his wet hair into their kitchen sink.

Techno gets the soft towels from the bathroom closet and wraps them around a shivering Wilbur. His lips are blue, but he seems giddy. He throws the other towel at Schlatt. 

"So what the hell did you two do?" 

The boys look at each other before dissolving into laughter. 

Philza comes in from the backdoor, smelling awfully of sheep. He stops when seeing the two newcomers. 

"What the hell did you two do!" 

Another set of laughter. Philza looks at Techno, who only shrugs. 

Philza sighs. "Good to see you, Schlatt." 

"Thanks, Mr. Philza." a cocky hand on his hip. "Sorry for stealing Wilbur away, as always. Just wanted to make clear that this was his idea." 

Wilbur stabs his elbow into his side. "Shut up." 

"You're so mean." 

"You deserve it." 

"Hey, hey Technoblade!" Schlatt walks over to him, pants dripping water over the entire floor. "Do you know what they call me?" 

Wilbur and Philza both roll their eyes. Techno woefully watches the water on the floor. "What'd they call you?" 

"They call me…" he looks over at Wilbur, and talks like it's the conclusion of a heartwarming story. "...their  _ best  _ friend." 

"They call you a menace." Wilbur grabs Schlatt by his shirt and drags him away. "Let's put on some dry clothes, you're gonna put Techno into an early grave." 

The two walk up the stairs, and Techno watches them disappear. 

In hindsight, even if it seems like they hate each other--Wilbur has often tried to explain that it's just a joke between the two, that they're actually close friends--it makes sense for them to be friends. 

Because whether they are in the Overworld, or the Nether, or even the End, they will rarely find anyone like them. 

Non-humans. Almost-humans. 

They met Schlatt in a town over, elbow on a windowsill with his chin in hand, bored as he was watching the day go by--only when he saw Techno and Wilbur pass, his weird goat-like eyes widened, and with a less-than-welcoming grin he beckoned them towards him. 

Wilbur and Schlatt immediately clicked, bickering together like they've known each other for years. Techno didn't leave Wilbur's side that day, uncertain about the new friend he made. 

Techno picks up his book again and heads down to his room. 

He's still uncertain about Schlatt. Nothing about the guy just seems like a good idea. But when Techno tried keeping tabs on him, Wilbur got upset and stopped talking to him for a day--Techno promised to not play detective around Schlatt anymore. 

It's whatever. It's not like he's deliberately trying to get Wilbur killed or anything. He just isn't the best influence on him--Techno isn't either. He can't even argue there. 

The book lays heavy in his hand, and with a sigh, he puts it away. He can't read anymore.

* * *

Techno rolls his shoulders after braiding his hair, his comb clogged with pink strands. Wilbur would help him sometimes, and when the voices were quiet for a long time he'd go to Philza and sit on the floor by his bed as the man skillfully braids his hair into something more manageable. But Wilbur isn't at home, and the voices have been crowding him since breakfast. Mostly whispers he can't make out anyways, chants and singing, and the consistent, never-ending buzzing. 

It's manageable--not something that quickens his heart rate and glosses over his eyes, but rather a very determined headache that makes him sigh every now and again. When it gets bad he just locks himself in his room--or even better, spends a few hours in the Nether itself. He's managing. He's good at this. That's why nobody needs to know. That's why nobody  _ does  _ know, even after two years of living with Philza.

* * *

_ ("He's never been like this!"  _

_ Techno pressed his ear against the door he's leaning on. His bedroom has been locked for the past four hours. He answered no knocks or calls.  _

_ Wilbur quietly sobs, and the voices hiss at Techno for making him cry. Some faintly cheer.  _

_ "He's never been like this. Never."  _

_ "This is very stressful for Techno," Philza speaks softly, almost too quiet to hear. "He's probably just overwhelmed. Give him time to adjust."  _

_ Techno crawls over to his bed, his limbs heavy. Sure. Overwhelmed. He is overwhelmed.) _

* * *

Techno combs his hands through his horse's mane as they ride. Philza is next to him on his white horse, adjusting his hat to block out the sunlight. The desert sun is ruthless, but what has to be done has to be done--they can't go back to the usual village they traded with, because the villagers are low on stock and won't trade for the time being. The next town would be right by the desert. 

It takes two hours until they see anything other than sand, but there, beyond a small river is a Savanna village, red wood bright amongst the dull grass and white sand. Techno gets off his horse and pats its snout carefully. “Now be good.”

Philza watches him tie the horse to a fence, quiet smile on his face.

The villagers all watch them wearily as they walk down the dirt path. This is a town Philza only has been to once, and two strange people decked in armor isn't the most welcoming sight--it will be a pain to reintroduce themselves to all the villagers. 

People keep close to the wall, and eyes peek at them out of tinted windows. Techno shrugs the uncomfortable feeling of being watched off. 

A brave farmer tending to their field looks up, straw hat worn and clearly old. They stand up, dusting the dirt off their pants. "Just passing through?" 

"We're here to trade." Philza smiles kindly, tipping his own hat. 

"That guy's with you?" the farmer nods towards Techno. 

"Yes," Techno answers, voice quiet. "Do you have a librarian here in your town?" 

The farmer points further down the path, before kneeling down to tend to his crops again. Philza thanks him, and they get back on their way. 

Techno continues walking with a weird feeling in his stomach. The voices don't make him feel any better. He clears his throat. 

"Philza, we're being followed." 

Philza glances up at Techno. "Don't worry about it. It's probably some curious villager." 

Techno nods, hand itching to grab the sword on his back, concealed by the cape he's wearing. 

The librarian lives in the last house by the village path, and Techno leans against the house wall. "Go in without me." Techno looks back and sees no one particularly suspicious. 

"Alright. Be right here." 

The door opens, and the door closes again. He faintly hears Philza greeting the villager inside. Techno crosses his arms and lowers his head. Quietly, he mutters to himself. 

"Who's following?"

He waits a few seconds, and the voices catch the question, throwing in random answers. Though the most agree that it isn't anything threatening. Techno relaxes, though keeping his eyes open. It's interesting to see which villager is bold enough to follow them. 

It only takes a few minutes for the perpetrator to come out--Techno's eyes widen a little. 

A young blond boy with dirt smeared on his cheek, comically sneaking across the path as if Techno couldn't see him approach, staring at him for a minute before speaking up. "Hi. Do you have a sword?"

"...yes." Techno moves to face him, looking down at him through his bangs.

The boy looks at him expectantly. Techno doesn't quite get it. He's never had to interact with a human kid before. The boy loudly sighs, and crosses his arms as well. 

"For my whole entire life I always wanted to see a sword." 

Techno nods. "Hope you see one soon." 

The kid bites his lip, rubs his eyes. Presses around on a long strand of his blond hair between his fingertips "Like it's my life dream…to see a really cool diamond sword and not a lame stone or iron one… the adults won't even let me touch those, they always give me the boring wooden ones." 

"Where are your parents?" 

"None of your business." 

Techno frowns. He really, really hopes Philza comes out soon. The kid continues standing in front of him, impatiently tapping his foot. He groans. 

"Please, please, please show me the sword!" 

Techno blinks. So that's what the kid was trying to do. Alright. That's easy. He squats down, looking left and right to make sure that no one is paying too much attention to him. Then, in one swift motion, he reaches behind him and unsheathes the sword on his back. He holds it firmly at its hilt, and tenderly brushes over the blade--the boy watches with wide eyes, mouth agape.

“Can I… hold it?”

Techno quickly puts it back. “Definitely not.”

The boy pouts. “It’s my lifelong dream!”

“Your lifelong dream is seeing a sword. Not holding one. Don’t go back on your story.”

He stomps, and his hands curl into fists. It’s almost funny, but laughing would be cruel. Instead, Techno just snorts loudly.

“Are you making fun of me!?”

“Nope, just remembered something funny.” Techno stands up again. “You have dirt on your cheek.”

The kid aggressively rubs at his face. At the same time, the door to the library opens once again. Techno’s eyes catch onto the Enderpearls stored in Philza’s bag as he says his polite goodbyes to the trader.

“Philza, let’s go.”

Philza looks at Techno, then the kid, and then back at Techno. He smiles awkwardly. “Everything… alright?”

Techno nods. He turns around, pacing away from the kid. He trusts Philza to follow.

“Will you come back?” the kid yells. Techno stops dead. Turns back around.

“Sure.”

They leave. Philza looks at him questioningly. Techno stays silent.

* * *

Techno pulls the gloves tighter before digging into the dirt again. Bugs happily crawl over the exposed space--he wrinkles his nose and plants the seeds he kept in his pocket. Just a small patch--Philza told him he never planted melons around here, and wasn't sure if the dirt was good enough. Techno just shrugged. He ate a melon once, in the other town they used to trade in. Philza said that it usually tastes sweeter. He just wanted to see for himself. 

A shadow casts over his hunched figure, and he quietly sighs. 

"Hello, Schlatt." 

"Hi." the boy stands over him, hands in pockets. For once, he doesn't have that shit-eating grin on his face. 

The voices can't decide if they should groan in annoyance or laugh. Techno blinks. 

"Your and Wilbur's birthday is soon." 

"Yup." he scoots over and digs into the dirt once again. 

"You two are gonna be 16."

"Sure are." another colony of ants exposed. Techno just hopes they won't eat his melon seed. 

Schlatt taps with his foot. He flicks at his horn, casually looking up at it. "Not gonna celebrate it?" 

Techno mutters something about 'passage of time' and 'Nether' and 'Unusual', but Schlatt waves him off. 

"Let's celebrate! I'll be there. Bake some cake. Invite friends." 

Techno wants to ask which friends Schlatt would be referring to--but that's just asking to be made fun of. Besides, Schlatt already left, leaving Techno and his melon seeds. 

He covers it in dirt and pats over it with his gloved hands. A smile climbs across his face when he imagines the little stock growing.

* * *

Wilbur holds onto Techno's shirt like it's the end of the world. 

"Have I ever told you how much I hate horses?"

"You seemed to like them a lot before today." 

"That's before I had to ride one." 

Techno shrugs. Fair enough. "You brought this onto yourself." 

"Oh shut up." 

Philza turns around. "Settle down boys!" 

Schlatt and Wilbur took their stacks of Enderpearls for unknown reasons. Those Enderpearls have not turned up again--for less unknown reasons. Techno had a lot to say about that, most of it being about Schlatt's influence, but he kept quiet and let Philza lightly scold him instead. 

After a while Philza decided that they'd take Wilbur to the Savanna village with them, to get the new pearls. Just to show him what a meticulous process it all is, getting there, trading for emeralds, and trading for pearls. 

Besides, it wouldn't hurt Wilbur to see it once. He isn't a complete stranger to trading, and did some errands himself, back when the town next door was still trading, but a learning experience is a learning experience.

Whatever. They see the river and the town, so Techno hops off, carefully helping Wilbur to get off as well. 

The town is as wary of them as it was two weeks ago as well. He hears some blinds close. 

Techno clears his throat. "Philza, Wilbur, you two go ahead."

"Without you?" Philza smiles, cocking his head. 

"Just looking around." 

Wilbur grabs Philza's sleeve and drags him away. Now off the horse, he seems much more excited about the prospect of talking to new people. 

Techno watches them disappear further down the path. He looks around. 

"Kid?" 

His voice is barely above his normal speaking voice. If the boy is on the other side of town he'd have no idea Techno is here--which is for the best. He's not very good with kids, probably. 

But the kid is here, suddenly appearing before him, and staring up at him with big eyes 

"You came back." 

"I mean, I said I would." not to mention that they kinda need to come to this town. If Techno knew he wouldn't need to come back he would've said so outright. 

The kid smiles, hands in his pocket. "Let's sit by the well!" 

Techno nods. The well is in the middle of town, some teenagers loitering around the place before seeing Techno and darting off. They sit down on the steps and the kid sighs contently. 

"What's your name?" 

"Technoblade."

"Where are you from?" 

"I live with Philza on the plains." 

"The Philza guy has wings. And you have tusks.  _ And  _ pink hair!" 

Techno raises his eyebrows. "Phil’s wings aren't real--they're mechanical tools." 

"And your hair?." 

"One hundred percent real." 

The kid laughs. The voices are silent for once. 

"Why doesn't Philza use his wings? You guys came here with horses." 

"Because he wants to take me with him and I don't have any." 

"Oh. Alright." 

Techno tugs at his hair, before flipping it over his shoulder. "So is this interrogation over?"

"In-ter-e-ga-shion. Yup." 

"No it isn't. What's  _ your  _ name?" 

"Tommy…" the kid looks away. 

"Tommy, yeah?" 

He nods. Techno leans back against his elbows, craning his neck to look up at the cloudless sky. He sits satisfied for some time, while Tommy next to him fidgets on the stairs--like he doesn't know what to do now. 

"You're cool." it's muttered, barely above a whisper. Like it wasn't supposed to be heard. 

"Hm?" Techno turns his head. He snorts. "You barely know me."

"You have a diamond sword!" Tommy stands up, softly jumping up and down. 

"Many people do, actually." Techno's hand crawls to his back where his sword is sheathed, but he lets it fall again. "You've never been out of this town, were you?" 

"Not very far… we don't get travelers often too. Are you gonna come again?" 

"I expect it. At least until our old town restocks."

Tommy's face falls. 

Techno ignores it--instead, he strains his ears. Someone is calling for him. 

He shoots up, looking around. "Wilbur?" 

"Techno! Over here!" 

He sees Wilbur and Philza at the end of the path, waving towards Techno. He shakes out his legs and leisurely walks down towards them. For a second he thought they might be in trouble. 

Tommy follows him. Techno's shoulders tense just slightly. 

"Did you guys get all your things?"

"Yeah." Wilbur turns to his side and opens the satchel, showing Techno all the Enderpearls and experience bottles. He nods. That should be enough for a while. 

Something tugs at his cape and he swings around to see Tommy looking up at him. Techno lowers his voice. 

"Dude, Tommy, what are you-" 

"Are you leaving again?" 

He feels Philza's and Wilbur's eyes on his back. 

"Of course I'm leaving. I need to get home again." 

Wilbur steps next to him. "Who's that short guy?" 

Tommy stomps. "Ey! I'm gonna be so tall one day you'll need a telescope to see me!" 

"Sca-a-a-ary." Wilbur snorts. "So, what's up? Why are you following Techno? Did you lose your parents?" 

"Shut up!" 

"Sorry, sorry." he holds up his hands. "You okay, though?" 

Tommy's angry expression falters, and Wilbur's hands fall back to his sides. He walks up to the kid and squats down, carefully lowering his voice. Techno takes a few steps back, next to Philza. 

"Who's he?" Philza whispers. 

"No clue. Just some kid called Tommy." 

Philza shrugs. They watch Tommy and Wilbur have a quiet conversation, which takes about five minutes, and ends with Tommy's eyes glistening, yet smiling, and Wilbur ruffling his hair. Tommy laughs a little--it sounds watery. Wilbur waves, and walks towards their horses. Techno and Philza only share one last look before following. They wave too. 

"What did you tell him?" 

Wilbur sighs. "Nothing important. Hey Techno, could I borrow your horse in, um." he turns his head. Tommy left. "In two weeks." 

"...sure. Why?" 

"Oh." a smile curves on his face. "I just made a promise, is all."

* * *

Techno pushes a thread through a needle. His glasses sit heavy on the tip of his nose. The red cape has a small tear in it, so he asked Philza for the stitching kit. 

He remembers when he first started trying to stitch his clothes, he'd almost cry in frustration every time the thread slipped out of the needle. Or when he pricked his finger once again. 

It's a very strenuous task, yet one that he finds relaxing--in the first ten minutes. Elven minutes in, and the thread slips out once again, slowly falling onto his lap. He cringes as he takes it between his fingers, the voices suddenly whispering in unison. They're probably not saying very nice things about him. 

He sticks the needle back into the yarn and sighs. He stitched all the noticeable tears shut. The small ones can wait for later. 

His hand reaches for his glasses to take them off--but he stops in his tracks, his heart starting to race. His blood pumps in his ears. The voices are not whispering now. 

_ Wilbur in danger, Wilbur needs help, Wilbur is- _

He jumps up. "Philza?!" 

The man sticks his head out of the bedroom within seconds. "Are you okay, mate? What is it?" 

"Where's Wilbur?" 

"He went out with Schlatt-" 

Halfway through the sentence, Techno already put on his shoes. "I'll be back!" 

_ East, east,  _ the voices chant. Techno runs east. Of course they'll go east--not towards the forest, because it's dark in there, and not towards the desert, because it's generally uncomfortable. East towards Schlatt's town--yes, it makes sense. 

He thinks. What could get Wilbur in danger? Broad daylight, so no mobs, most likely. And Techno forced him to take a sword with him every time he leaves the house, so a single creeper wouldn't be that big of a problem. 

So no mob--another human? There'd be no particular reason for the people in the town next door to be wary of Wilbur. They love him--he's a 'good influence' on Schlatt. Even if Techno doubts that. 

But anything can happen out there--he stands in the middle of the plains, Philza’s house behind him and Schlatt’s town in front of him. It’s logical for them to be somewhere in this area. He takes a deep breath.

“ _ Wilbur?! _ ” he yells as loud as he can, his voice booming over the grass field. He listens to it echo. No answer.

He runs across, a bit further, and tries again. No answer.

Only after ten minutes of running and calling, he hears something--ironically, he doesn’t even have to yell for him this time.

“Help!” clearly Wilbur’s voice--panicked, but with a hint of annoyance. It can’t be that bad, then.

“Stop fucking yelling. Save your voice for when they actually notice we’re gone.” Schlatt, quiet and equally annoyed. Techno uses their voices to come closer.

“Yeah, obviously no one’s gonna come for you! But me-”

The conversation ends, and Techno guesses that they’ve started fighting, like they always do. With horror he realizes the voices come from below--a cave with seemingly no entrance. 

“ _ Wilbur! _ ”

He goes silent, and strains his ears.

“Holy shit-”

“Techno! Dig down! Carefully!” then, a bit quieter, not aimed at him. “See? Told you they’re gonna come for me.”

Techno didn’t take his shovel, but luckily he has his pickaxe with him, so he shoves away the dirt with the pick, so deep until he hits stone. “Say something.”

“Over here.”

To his left. Alright--he hacks away at the stone in a downward slope, and hopes for the best. It takes a game of Marco-Polo, and manual labor until he breaks through, two figures in the dark squinting up at him. The dirt pile next to them tells its own story of how they ended up here--probably someone sloppily covering the entrance of a cave with soft dirt, and unluckily Schlatt and Wilbur stepped into that exact spot. Causing them to fall down the cave, and helplessly watch as the hole closes in on them, dirt pouring into the opening. 

It takes an additional 15 minutes to get both of them out of there. Wilbur gives Techno a short and tired hug, and walks back towards their house without saying another word. 

Schlatt dusts his clothes off, watching Wilbur's back. He follows, slowly, turning his head to see if Techno will too.

“How’d you know?”

Techno looks at his nails, sighing in disappointment when he notices one of them broken. He starts moving too. “Know what?”

“Well-” he vaguely points towards the hole they just dug. “That we’re here.”

“I was running around the field yelling for you. It’s not like this is the first place I checked.”

“Ok.” Schlatt puts his hands in his pockets, only watching Techno from the side. “How’d you know we were in trouble then? We usually stay out for way longer.”

Techno closes his mouth, and goes back to staring at his nails. They don’t offer any new information.

“So?”

“Do you have to know everything?” Techno tries to keep his voice steady. The voices mutter amongst each other, like they're a scandalized crowd. “It’s just intuition.”

“Sure.” he shrugs. “Sure.”

There is a glint in Schlatt’s eyes that he doesn’t like at all. Techno watches his brother, walking several paces in front of him. Slightly shaken, from what has happened today, but otherwise acting as he always does.

Techno really wouldn’t want that to change.

* * *

The smell of chocolate cake wafts over from the kitchen. 

Techno stands up from the floor and rubs his knees. His pants are a little damp, and his hands uncomfortably cold, but Wilbur scrubbed the floor last time--so today it’s his turn. Wilbur himself is leisurely standing on a stool, dusting off the tall bookshelves. Occasionally he’ll stop, taking out a book and flipping through a few pages, before either putting it back, or on a small pile of books he has been accumulating. Techno glances at the pile--mostly romance and thriller books, which Wilbur insists is the best combination. Techno disagreed and suggested Wilbur to never pursue romance, ever. 

Philza hums while doing the dishes, a familiar tune from one of the music disks he sometimes plays when they're all cleaning. Techno brings the bucket and rag to another space he hasn't cleaned yet, throwing the rag back into the water. 

Wilbur hops from the stool. 

He waves Techno closer, holding a book in his hands. Wilbur speaks with a low voice. "Look how new this one looks." 

It's true--the other books have yellowed pages, and the covers are made from leather or fabric--but this one is shiny, with clean white pages inside. Techno raises his eyebrows. 

"Seems to be barely a year old." 

Wilbur nods. With a pointed look at the kitchen, and then back at Techno he whispers, "A parenting book." 

"A-" he blinks. "A what?" 

"Parenting book." he opens it. "Look, chapter 4. How to deal with your rebellious teen. It has a bookmark in it." 

Techno stares. 

“When I grabbed it, it was dusty though. Probably hasn’t read it for a few months.”

“Probably sometime before we came here.”

Wilbur flips through the book a bit more. He stops on a page with several lines highlighted, and Techno gets a short glimpse.

_ “Your child’s mental health can be-” _

Wilbur quickly shuts the book, holding it close to his chest. Techno’s eyes flicker up to Wilbur’s red face, seemingly contemplating something.

“Philza… he… he’s like our dad, right?”

“Huh?!” Techno takes a step back. “Repeat that please?”

“Like a parent… you know. Giving us a place to sleep. Giving us food. Consoling us.”

“He’s like my employer!” Techno’s voice gets a little too loud, and he watches the kitchen door. Nothing happens. “I help him work, and he gives us a place to stay. We help him plant the food, so it’s not like it's  _ his. _ ”

“Are you serious?” Wilbur chokes out a laugh. “Employer? Are you that ungrateful?”

“Ungrateful?!” his tone rises a pitch. 

“He’s done so much for us, and you just see him as a boss?”

“Well, a good friend at best.” Techno thinks of Philza. Yes, probably his best friend. Besides Wilbur--that’s why he says good friend.

Wilbur takes the stack of books, the strange book on top of the pile. He looks at the ladder leading to his room, and drops the books back down again, gets a bag out of one of the closets in the room, and puts them in there. Slinging the bag around his shoulder, he looks back at Techno once, before going up.

Techno watches Wilbur close the trapdoor to his room. Through their silent yelling, he didn't notice Philza stopping his humming. He carefully walks into the room, drying a white mug in his hands. 

"Were you arguing?" 

Techno shrugs. He dips the rag in the cold water and then drops it on the uncleaned floor. 

"You two should make up… it's your birthday tomorrow!" Philza smiles, cradling the mug to his chest. 

Techno doesn't look up. He just scrubs the floor silently. 

"Arguments amongst siblings are very normal-" 

"They are." 

"Yes! So, I know Wilbur is more prideful than you… if it's nothing too bad that he did, maybe you can apologize?" Philza nervously passes the mug from one hand to another. 

"Philza." he stands up. He takes a deep breath. It doesn't help. "Don't act like you know me." 

Phil's expression shifts, something… something sad appearing on his face, vulnerable and new. Techno feels a little nauseated. 

"Sorry." he kneels down again. His fingers are freezing. "I didn't mean that. I'll apologize to Wilbur later." 

He hears footsteps approach, and Philza's hand reaches out. 

"Stop." 

Philza stops. 

"The floor is wet. You have socks on." 

He laughs and keeps coming closer. "I don't mind. Besides-" he puts a careful hand on top of his head, his thumb tracing the line where his hair parts. "It's not wet here yet." 

Techno looks down, biting the inside of his cheek. Wilbur was right. Referring to Philza as his employer is ungrateful. 

He's his best friend--even if his only friend, except Wilbur.

* * *

He climbs the ladder and opens the trapdoor. It's evening, and time for dinner. Wilbur hasn't come down yet. 

His brother barely looks up when he comes in, peeking out of the hole that leads to his room. Wilbur is sitting on his bed, reading one of the thriller books he picked up. 

"Hi." 

Wilbur's eyes flicker to Techno, and then back to his book. 

"Dinner is ready." he leans on the attic floor, watching Wilbur flip to the next page. He doesn't say anything. 

On his bedside is the parenting book. 

"Wilbur, talk to me." 

"Not hungry." 

Techno sighs. "Why are you even mad at me? I don't get it." 

"I'm not mad. Why would I be mad?" 

"Come down then. Philza and I were waiting for you." 

Wilbur sighs, and puts away the book. When he stands up, some of his bones crack. Techno starts climbing down, Wilbur not far behind. He looks around the room. 

"You cleaned well." 

"For our birthday tomorrow." 

Wilbur finally smiles. "Our first real birthday party."

Techno smiles back. He still doesn't really see the appeal, but Wilbur said that he's been to Schlatt's birthday twice, and that it was always lots of fun--that was also when Wilbur came home red-faced and giggling, Philza close to tears as he told Techno the dangers of alcohol. Techno didn't get it--Wilbur seemed fine. Just a bit dumb. 

Schlatt apparently got a scolding from the entire village, and Philza bitterly said that it was deserved. Techno still didn't get it, but the voices were laughing at the prospect of Schlatt getting into trouble. 

They sit down at the table, and Philza seems happy to see them. Plates and cutlery are already there, and Philza brings in the warm food. 

They all take their portion and silently eat for a few minutes. After a moment, Wilbur speaks up. 

"Did you know that the town is electing a mayor now?" 

Philza swallows his food. "Really? They never had one as far as I know." 

"Yeah! Schlatt told me that they're low on stock because of miscalculations and disorganization--besides the drought they had--they'd usually have so much wheat that they'd trade it with a town pretty far away they're in contact with, and they have high demand in wheat. That's where they got their enderpearls from."

Techno puts away his fork. "But why a mayor?" 

"Someone who's responsible, I guess. They'll look out that everything goes smoothly." 

"Sounds more like they want to have a head on the guillotine in case something goes wrong." 

Wilbur laughs. "You read too many of these weird philosophy books. It's just a guy who's paying extra attention to everything, and is able to make a few decisions."

"Well." he shrugs. "Hope it goes well for them." 

Philza looks thoughtful but doesn’t add to the conversation. Instead he hums, tapping the tablecloth with his index finger. “Your melons,” he covers his mouth and then resumes talking a moment later. “They’re sprouting.”

Wilbur grins. “You better share them.”

“Only if you pay me.”

Yells of protest fill the kitchen, Wilbur leaning over the table to point his finger at Techno. Philza laughs quietly, trying to diffuse the situation.

The sun sets above the horizon, and Techno spends his last day as a fifteen-year-old with his two best friends.

* * *

Schlatt and Philza don't harmonize at all as they sing for the twins, but both get louder and louder like they're trying to out-sing each other. In the end, they look expectantly at Wilbur and Techno, who can do nothing but stare back. 

Philza gestures at the cake. "The candles!" 

Techno blinks. "They are nice candles." his brother nods. Another second passes. 

"Oh!" Wilbur slaps the table. "We need to blow them out!" he does so, before letting Techno process his sentence. 

"Nice… blown out candles." Techno pokes at them, the small trail smoke traveling up. "We don't need to eat those, right?" 

Philza takes the two candles out of the cake. He claps his hands together. "Let's eat!" 

The day isn't very different from all the other days, since Schlatt is here anyways every other day. The only difference are the weird rituals that both he and Wilbur aren't well versed in. But it's not bad. The cake is good. 

Philza put on some music before they sat down to eat the cake, and they all spread around the living room. Wilbur tried to coax Schlatt into dancing, who just did a series of exaggerated embarrassing dance moves and then sitting down again. Wilbur laughed for maybe five minutes--it wasn't even that funny. But Philza laughed too. Maybe Techno snorted a little. 

Wilbur smiles as he looks over all three of them, hand on chest as he speaks over the comfortable conversation Schlatt and Philza were having. 

"I'm so glad that I get to spend my 16th birthday with all my favorite people." 

Schlatt grins, and there's chocolate cake stuck between his teeth. "Don't start acting nice now. When is the rest coming, by the way?" 

Wilbur's smile falters for a second, but no one except Techno seems to notice. "No, that's all! All four of us here." 

Schlatt pauses, then laughs off the awkwardness. 

Philza sits back in his seat. "I remember my 16th birthday… the entire town was over--the house was never that full! Everyone knew about it. And everyone but the old grumpy lady by the edge of town had fun." 

"Look how far we've come. Now  _ you're  _ the old grumpy lady." Schlatt points his fork at Philza. 

"Oh, shush." 

Wilbur shoves his half-eaten cake away. There is quiet bickering, but besides the music waving over it's not very loud. Techno prefers it that way but Wilbur… 

“How do you think are your melons gonna be?” Wilbur perks up again, lazily leaning one elbow on the table as he turns to Techno.

“Oh. They’re growing.” Techno puts his fork down. “I can’t tell if they’ll end up being good, but I think it's worth trying it once.”

“And when it won’t work this time, you can always try again!” Wilbur grins and digs back into his abandoned cake.

Techno looks at his own empty plate.

The voices seem more agitated than usual. He can't tell if he is hearing the music from the record player, or if it's them, humming and singing, slowly building up their harmony. He's been keeping them at bay, and he hasn't felt completely out of control for a long time. 

Nothing was as bad as when he first arrived in the overworld, feeling himself slipping away, like slowly being chipped off the world. But he always seemed to come to a point where he's shaking in his chair because everything is too loud, too bright, too fast, too much, and then he'd lock himself in his room and not answer to anyone for hours. 

He waves it off. Not today. Not now. 

"I have to say something." He's been wanting to get it off his chest for weeks. He doesn't know how everyone will react. Better now, ripping it away like a bandaid. "I wanna start traveling." 

Everyone goes silent. Even the music track stops, playing one last damming note. The voices stop too, attentive and curious. 

"Travel… where." Wilbur's expression falls into a neutral one. 

He shrugs. "Around. Get through all the biomes. Learn new things." he hears a hum in his ear. Then two. "I guess… away." 

Wilbur stares at him, eyes freezing over. Philza blinks. "That's the first time I heard of that?" 

Techno shoves himself away from the table, just a little. "I've thought about it for a long time, actually." Four, five, six voices now. A choir--Wilbur would know more about this than him. "And I think it would be the right thing for me to do." 

"That's a very vague reason. 'The right thing'? What does that even mean." Schlatt looks at Wilbur when he speaks. Wilbur hasn't moved, cold expression rooted in place. 

"I'm not meant to stay at one place for too long." 

"So you're just gonna leave?" 

"Not 'just'. I don't plan on leaving now, or tomorrow, or next month. I'm telling you because I know what I want to do, and you should know."

Philza frowns. Now everyone is looking at Wilbur, unblinking and unmoving. Too many voices to count now, and the inside of his skull seems to itch. He feels like he's overheating, despite the room being fairly cool. 

"Thanks for the cake, Phil." Wilbur stands up. "I'm a bit tired." 

Someone else is talking, but Techno doesn't hear them. His vision goes blurry--it's hard to function when the voices get so loud. His nails dig into the chair, and if he'd be a bit more aware of his surroundings, he'd notice the wood crack. 

He also stands up, accidentally dragging the chair across the floor with his foot, the noise of the creaking grating at his teeth. With his balance lost, he stumbles over to his room. Someone is talking, but the choir in his head is too loud. 

His door closes. With shaking hands, he locks it. 

Sometimes breathing is a task. He drags his hand to his heart, too fast, too loud, and feels how his chest rises and falls. His shoulders are up to his ears, so he focuses on untensing. His face, his eyebrows furrowed--he lets it slip back into a neutral expression. 

_ Good job,  _ some of them say sarcastically. Yet it's almost incomprehensible over the shared battle cry, loud and united. 

_ Blood for the Blood God.  _

Techno sits down on his bed. If he lays, he'd be too vulnerable. If he relaxes too much, the voices have it easy. 

He's not even fighting--saw no one fighting--didn't think about fighting. Yet his body pumps useless adrenaline into his legs, and the voices sing of blood like they stand in a circle around him and his opponent. 

There is no opponent, and there is no blood. So the voices ask for both.

* * *

The door is barely an obstacle when he tries opening it. Wooden stairs creak as he climbs them, his feet heavy. He drags them up one after the other, a victorious chorus playing over and over. The living room is dark. No one is here.

Night fell while he was trapped in his room, but the wind that hits his face when he leaves the house does little to cool his head.

He just has to go to the Nether portal. It’s by the forest, a natural path formed through their more or less frequent visits to the Nether. He treads on forward, his throat as if laced up, and the weight of the sword on his back being a constant comfort. The voices holler.

Someone’s presence behind him--he takes another step forward before he feels it, but the next step brings him right back around.

The darkness would obstruct most people’s visions, but his pupils widen, and the person in front of him stumbles back. 

“Hey, hey-” they raise their hands. “What are you looking so scary for?”

In the silhouette he sees a pair of horns sprout from the ruffled hair. The yellow glint of the slitted pupils is faintly reflected by the moonlight. The voices lock onto Schlatt. 

_ Blood for the Blood God _

He turns back towards the path, pointedly keeping his eyes away from Schlatt. 

"Not to be all up in your business-" his voice has the same pitch as the buzzing, meshing into one another. It doesn't fit together well. "But what the hell is wrong with you? Not mentioning how you can't read the room or anything, like, why would you tell us about your travel plans today? But I mean like-" 

He's walking as fast as he can without running, but somehow Schlatt seems to keep up. He breathes heavily as he talks. 

"Philza and I were sitting at your door for half an hour or something, and you wouldn't answer. Wilbur fucking, he left with your horse and then came back with his boots full with sand, and he all did that while you were brooding in your room." 

Around them, he hears mobs approach, but it barely matters if you always keep moving. 

"You're still brooding?" 

Techno's hand shoots out, grabbing Schlatt's shirt. He janks him forward. 

"Shut up for once," he croaks out. His throat burns. The voices laugh, urging his hands around Schlatt's neck. His head pounds. 

An arrow whirs past his ear. It lodges into a tree not far from him.

“Behind-”

He lets go, and Schlatt falls to the floor. The yellow eyes lack any cockiness they usually bear, instead wide open and full of fear. The sword glides out of his sheath so naturally. 

A skeleton behind them raises its bow once again, but Techno holds up his sword, to possibly block any oncoming arrows. He rushes towards it, collapsing the bones with two heavy blows. Like a cheap performance, the voices ask for another, again--and when he hears an inhumane groan to his right, he slashes through a zombie, they still don't seem satisfied. 

"Techno, are you gonna like, continue being scary tonight?" 

He snaps around. His steps are heavy when he approaches the figure still lying on the floor, and the hilt of his sword lays in his palm like a feather. 

"Hey-" 

It's easy to raise the swords, and adrenaline bubbles in his chest as the voices seem to cry out in excitement, the choir reaching the climax of the song they have been singing all day long. They wait to finish the note, wait for Techno to bring the sword down. 

Schlatt opens his mouth. Before he gets to yell, Techno strikes. 

Silence. 

"Oh." 

"Oh." Techno sighs. 

Schlatt looks at the sword, buried in the dirt next to him. Just a hand length away from his face. He can see his own frightened expression in the reflection of the blade. 

He clambers up, while Techno slowly falls to his knees, the restless energy finally pouring out of him. Like a sack of sand. He uses his sword as support as he sits. 

"Okay. First of all. What the fuck." Schlatt leans against a tree, breathing in and out. "Honestly, what the  _ fuck.  _ Second. What is wrong with you! I think I deserve, I don't know, an explanation? An apology?" 

Techno doesn't look up. Both hands around the hilt of his diamond sword, harmlessly sticking in the dirt, and kneeling in front of Schlatt should be enough of an apology. 

Of course it isn't. 

"Techno, what would Philza and Wilbur think if they knew about this?" 

Techno's head snaps up. "Don't tell them!" 

"What the hell! You attacked me!" 

"I'll explain. I'll explain it. Just give me a minute, okay?" he uses his sword to stand up--still the diamond one from all these years ago. He took care of it and carefully sharpened it. When there was a crack he'd seal it shut with another diamond. It faintly glows, and the enchantments that Techno found in Philza's books only make it stronger. 

"Schlatt, have you ever been to the nether?" he sheaths the sword and turns his back to Schlatt. "It's not very far from here. Follow me."

* * *

This portal leads right into a nether fortress, abandoned since Philza took it under his control. Now the fortress has a very human architecture--decorational walls encase hallways that were otherwise exposed to the wide and dangerous nether. Spaces, where blazes loved gathering in, were turned into small rest stops with benches and tables--except one, a little death trap that attacks and kills blazes for their powder. Philza wouldn't look at Techno when he explained the contraption to him, eyes cast down. Maybe even nervous. 

Instead of the strange and confusing maze that the fortress once used to be--mainly to trap and confuse humans that ventured into it--pointless hallways were cut off, torches on the side pointing back to the main portal. 

Schlatt follows him closely, his jacket tied around his waist. Techno thinks the warmth is just right. They stop at another former blaze hangout, which is now just Techno's hangout. It's his favorite place to go to when things go south. 

Schlatt sits down on the dark oak bench, slightly unfitting with the red bricks, but comfortable nonetheless. 

Techno sits down across from him, a table between them. He takes a deep breath. 

"I have not told anyone about this." 

"Anyone? And Wilbur?" 

"Not Wilbur. No one knows." 

Schlatt raises his eyebrows, clearly curious but trying to hide it. 

"When I'm under a lot of stress-" he bites his cheek. "that can be a hectic environment or pressure to make an important decision, or just build up things. I hear…" 

Schlatt's arms are folded on the table. He leans forward. 

"Voices." 

"Voices." 

"Yes."

Schlatt leans back. "Um-" 

"Ever since I left the nether I've had them. The first few days in the overworld were awful for me, but I adjusted. Now I'm mostly under control. Something like today won't happen again." 

"So when you were brooding in your room…" 

"I was trying to calm down. It didn't help a lot." Techno casts his eyes down. He doesn't know if he should be glad that it wasn't Wilbur or Philza that had to witness this. On one hand, the two people he cares about most don't have to know about this. On the other hand… 

"Schlatt, you can keep a secret, right?" 

The boy's face splits into a devilish smile, the first time this entire evening losing his frightful expression--and Techno feels as though he has made a horrible, horrible mistake. 

"Technoblade, Techno, Buddy! I'm a businessman. We can surely arrange something." 

Techno breathes in and out before looking back at Schlatt. "What do you mean." 

"I just think… you owe me a favor. I don't know, you just come here and tell me about your mental problems, then suddenly ask me to keep it a secret?" 

"It's less mental and more spiritual--besides the point. Schlatt, you're not a really good person, are you?" 

"Don't accuse me!" 

"Certainly am not. You asked me to tell you." 

"Well, I didn't know it'd be  _ that."  _ Schlatt does some extravagant gesture, before laying down on the bench with a tired groan. "Okay, okay. Look at it like this. Some guy attacks you randomly. Kinda weird, right! And then he starts putting all this… baggage onto you-" 

"This wasn't some heartwarming moment where I opened up to you, I wanted to explain the situation so you wouldn't be completely-" 

"And  _ then  _ he asks me to keep it secret! Isn't that crazy." 

Techno rolls his eyes. There is no arguing with this guy. He's tried it over and over again. Best to just accept his fate. "Fine. What's your favor." 

“Hmm.” his slitted pupils look over into the distance, not focusing on anything in particular. After a few minutes of complete silence, they snap back to Techno. "Oh, you know what, I'll be holding onto that favor. Don't worry Techno--it won't be anything too hard. At least for you." 

Techno swings up his leg and stands up. "You know the way out. Follow the torches." 

He has a slight feeling that this will haunt him for quite some time.

* * *

Wilbur has been periodically leaving the house for multiple hours, taking with him Techno’s horse, and only coming back late in the afternoon.

Usually, that wouldn’t be a very strange occurrence, minus Techo’s horse going with him, but Schlatt often came to their place around these times, asking if Wilbur is home.

So he’s not out with Schlatt. Which is what he usually does.

“You think he got a girlfriend?” Schlatt asks Philza, biting into the apple he stole from their fruit trees. Techno acts as though he isn’t listening to the conversation, ripping out another weed that invested his dear melon farm. He pulled them just two days ago, but they’re persistent--and strong.

Philza chuckles politely. “I think we would know if he did. It’s all he thinks about lately.”

“True.” he spits out an apple seed. “And all he talks about too. He barely knows more than ten people and he’s still so obsessed with romance.”

Techno feels two pairs of eyes on his back.

“They are quite sheltered… aren’t they,” Philza speaks quietly, but he always underestimates Techno’s and Wilbur’s good hearing.

“I guess. We all are--it’s not like we’re living in the big city.”

They fall into companionable silence. It’s true--Philza told him that usually people aren’t adventurers. The biggest journey an ordinary person will make is the move to their own house, most likely constructed next to the one they grew up in. Some like being extra, and fall in love with a person from another town, likely have an argument which town is better and then move there. And some like being  _ very  _ extra, and find the idea of the city enticing, the bustling life of the folk there, the opportunities and anonymity. 

Adventurers are unusual in every way, something kids desire, but usually grow out of once they’re twenty.

Philza didn’t. Philza started adventuring when he turned nineteen, and always came back to his old town with hundreds of new stories, never being able to tell every single one of them before going back on the road. 

The house they live in now, was not quite temporary, but not quite forever--Philza explained it to him once. That he likes having multiple homes to come back to, that aren’t quite like the shacks he builds during his travels, simple shelter from rain and mobs, but also aren’t quite a house he will stay with until the end of his life.

He said that, yet he hasn’t moved beyond the towns for the past three years.

“Phil.” he sticks his little shovel into the ground and turns around to face them. Schlatt throws the apple core over his shoulder and leans on his elbow, curious what Techno has to say. “Why haven’t you traveled? It’s not like you’re too old yet.”

“Debetable,” Schlatt says. 

“I don’t know.” Philza ignores Schlatt. “I don’t think Wilbur is the type that likes traveling that much.”

“Then leave us?” Techno squints. That didn’t quite sound right. “I mean as in- well-” he clears his throat. “It’s not like you’re under obligation to help us.”

“But I want to.” he raises his voice a little, something beyond the casual conversation they were having. His eyes are too intense for the simple question Techno was asking him. “Do you think it will be easy to leave us? When you go traveling?”

“You did it too, didn’t you?” Techno turns back to his melons. This isn’t a conversation he wants to have right now, and definitely not with Schlatt there. “If Wilbur stays with you, I won’t worry about him being in danger. And you too--as long as you don’t do anything too out there, I don’t think you’re very in danger.”

“But isn’t there more to it than…” Philza pauses. “Survival? Maybe we’re safe, but will you be happy? Won’t you…”

“Techno won’t miss me? Was I not funny enough?” Schlatt lays down, and rolls across the grass, dramatic and annoying as always.

Techno snorts. “Of course I’ll miss Philza and Wilbur. I’m not heartless.”

“And-”

“And Schlatt occasionally.”

Philza laughs. “But-” he quietens, taking a second to think. “Can you make a promise?”

Techno’s hand’s pause, gripping the last bit of weed. He doesn’t turn around, but he nods, hoping that Philza can see it.

“Just--come back. Occasionally. That’s all.”

He rips the weed out. His mouth is a little dry--he shouldn’t do garden work in the afternoon. 

“I promise.” He nods, and then again. “I promise.”

* * *

Wilbur has been behaving strangely ever since their sixteenth birthday three months ago.

Not strangely in the usual ways he behaves strangely, but truly out of character for him. Waking up early, earlier than Techno--which is easy on some days, but a miracle on others. Disappearing more often than normal, and always taking Techno’s horse with him--he’s gotten quite a tan, and Philza told Techno how worried he is about sunburn. Schlatt still turns up on their doorstep, asking if Wilbur is home. He scoffs every time Techno tells him Wilbur left once again, but he always stays for dinner. 

_ ("The new mayor is doing some dumb shit." he puts his fork away, satisfied as he leans back into his chair. "Since the problem was the lack of wheat and potatoes to trade with our normal trading town, we now need to ratio our food every day. The mayor is keeping super close tabs on everyone."  _

_ Techno listens carefully. He's never liked the idea of a mayor.  _

_ "Well, and now I'll have to get used to smaller food portions." he smiles, as Philza puts another batch of food on his plate. "or not.")  _

So Wilbur's behavior has been unnatural and confusing--to say the least. 

Yet the strangest interaction happened when they ran all out of ender pearls. 

They didn't need restocking since that one time they took Wilbur with them, but they were running low, and Techno gets quite anxious without them. They're like a last resort lifeline to safety. 

Philza was busy exploring a new cave, so Techno planned on going himself. But a hand around his wrist stops him, and he turns around to face Wilbur. 

"I can do it." 

Wilbur volunteered. Wilbur hates working. And he will help if asked, but he’d never do so out of his own volition. 

Wilbur just smiles when Techno stares in confusion, and hops onto the horse. It trots steadily towards the desert. 

It takes a few hours but when Wilbur returns his demeanor is quite different. Fidgety and sweaty, he dumps the big bag of enderpearls right into Techno's hands, and runs back outside,not a single word uttered. 

He hasn’t said much to Techno ever since he announced that he will go traveling. Techno isn’t angry at him for that. It is maybe quite a bit to think about.

Wilbur peeks in through the window outside and immediately shrinks back when he meets Techno’s eyes. 

Something just isn't right.

* * *

Techno finds out pretty early what’s going on. Mainly because Wilbur isn’t good at hiding things from him.

After loitering outside for a while, Techno hears Wilbur climb up his ladders, hectic and erratic. His panicked voice carries through the silence of the house, and Techno quickly gets out of his room--he only sees Wilbur’s trapdoor close.

“Wilbur?”

Something heavy is shoved across the attic floor. Then the trap door creaks. 

“I’m okay! Don’t come up!”

Techno climbs the ladder anyways. He stops before trying to get in. “You sure?” a bit quieter now, since he’s closer to the room.

“Yup. I’m alright.”

“What happened?”

Techno doesn’t get an answer. He knocks against the trap door, and then puts his palm flat against it, trying to open it--it doesn’t work. Wilbur put something on top of it. He climbs back down. 

“Alright. Come down for dinner in an hour.” 

No answer, once again. Techno moves right around the corner, halfway into the bathroom right next to the ladders. He holds his breath and strains his ears.

It takes about ten minutes until something happens. There is the noise of a heavy object being shoved off the trap door, and Wilbur quietly saying something that Techno can’t quite understand. 

Is he with Schlatt? He has to be. But Wilbur quietly gets down the ladder and walks on tip-toes towards the kitchen. Techno doesn't wait another second and leaves his hiding place, climbing up the ladders himself. The trap door opens this time. 

Wilbur's room looks no different than it usually does. The bed is unmade, and the evening sun shines at the tall bookshelf. An unfinished letter on Wilbur's desk draws in Techno's attention, but he tactfully looks away. A chest in the middle of the room seems misplaced, but it's probably what Wilbur used to shut the trapdoor. 

He takes another step into the room and the floor creaks. 

The unmade bed--the bundle of blankets--moves. A hoarse voice comes from somewhere within it. 

"Wilbur's back?" 

Techno's shoulder tense and he purses his lips. Wilbur did not- he wouldn't just-

Techno gently pulls the blanket down, and a mop of blonde hair appears--followed by a young face, looking confused when he isn't met with Wilbur. 

"Tommy." 

The boy looks strange. Red cheeks and half-lidded eyes, his reactions slow and his words slurred. 

"It's Techno." Tommy closes his eyes and sinks into the pillow. 

"It's Techno," he agrees. "And Techno would like to know what's going on." he kneels by the bed, tucking the blanket back around Tommy. He gently presses his wrist onto Tommy’s forehead and confirms what he was seeing anyways--a fever.

"Wilbur…" nothing, for half a minute. Then, "Ask Wilbur." 

Techno rolls his eyes. "Let's not sleep yet, alright? Wilbur comes back in-" 

On cue, the trapdoor opens. Wilbur looks exhausted when they meet eyes. He's carrying a weaved basket, full to the brim. Techno's eyebrows become heavy, sinking over his eyelids--a clear face of disappointment. 

"I have an explanation-" 

"Oh, you better have one." he sits down, cross-legged. "And me and Philza would love to hear it. Later." he lifts his eyebrows again. "Come here. Help the kid." 

Wilbur puts the basket down and pushes past Techno. Kindly smiling at Tommy, he lowers his voice to something more optimistic “I brought you some warm food.”

Tommy groans. “Not hungry…”

“Eat just a bit. For me?”

To Techno’s surprise, the boy actually sighs, and sits up. He’s completely drained of energy, slouching over and blinking slowly. In the basket, Wilbur takes the lid off a small pot and pours the contents into a smaller bowl.

It's leftover soup from yesterday. He must've reheated it on the stove. 

Wilbur presses a spoon into Tommy's hand, positions the bowl around on the blanket, but then decides to sit down next to him on the bed and hold the soup himself. 

Tommy eats half of it. He looks up at Wilbur with pitiful eyes, dropping the spoon in the bowl. Wilbur sighs when he puts it away. 

"Take a nap, alright?" Wilbur flattens the messy blonde hair with his hand. "And after that, we'll go eat again." 

"Mhm." Tommy drops back into the pillow. There are still things in the basket--Wilbur grabs a damp paper towel, and puts it on Tommy's forehead, giving him a short warning. Tommy sighs, and it barely takes ten minutes before he's asleep. 

When Techno stands up, he does his best to avoid the floorboards that make noise. He waves at Wilbur, silently telling him to follow downstairs. 

Wilbur comes along, going around the loud boards and climbing down the ladders. 

The living room is quiet. Philza should come back soon. 

"Please." Techno closes his eyes, back turned to Wilbur. He points up. "Explain that." 

"It was impulsive." Wilbur sits down on the old couch. His tone is casual, but it always is when he's nervous. "If it was you, you would've done the same." 

"His parents? His caretakers?" his eyes snap open, and he turns to his brother "Wilbur, isn't there anyone that is searching for him?" 

"Everyone knows." 

"Just tell me what happened."

"I've been visiting the Savanna village multiple times now." Wilbur leans back. "Because of Tommy. He asked me to." 

So that's where he always went. Techno nods, urging him to continue. 

"I guess we sort of became friends. His parents aren't around, but the town takes care of him. He more or less doesn't have a specific caretaker, everyone puts in their part." 

Wilbur smiles. "I think the townspeople like me. But when I arrived today they told me their well dried out. It wouldn't be that big of a problem, someone would bring rations from our plains village until they've constructed another well, but Tommy got sick." 

"And they asked you to take him with you." 

"I asked them if I could take him." 

Techno nods. "You did the right thing." 

"Well, yes, that's why I did it." 

"Just…" He sits down next to Wilbur. "Why did you try to hide it?" 

There is a hand on Techno's shoulder, and for a short moment he wonders when Wilbur's grip became this firm. 

"Techno, lately you've been…" Wilbur sighs. "Never mind. I didn't know how to explain it. So I panicked." 

Wilbur hooks his arm around Techno's, and pulls him back into the backrest. Techno lets him. It has been a while since they've spoken properly. 

"The past three years," he buries his face in Wilbur's shoulder. "It's been hard for me." 

"I know." Wilbur leans his cheek on the tidy pink hair. "Maybe we were closer in our misery. Back in the nether." 

"I want you to be happy. I will take that over us being close." 

Maybe Wilbur's breath is unsteady. Maybe he rubs his eyes with his free hand. Maybe he doesn't. 

"When you go traveling. Don't forget me, alright?" 

Techno sinks deeper into Wilbur's side. "Never, Wilbur."

* * *

Philza comes home before Tommy wakes up. 

They planned how to tell him about the new person that lives in their house, and how to make it as normal-sounding as possible. Techno gave Wilbur the floor, considering that he's better at lying--rather, at creating a flattering reality with his words. 

Techno stays by Tommy's side in the meanwhile. 

"Philza won't throw you out for sure." He watches Tommy breathe slowly, still in deep sleep. Soon they'll need to wake him up. He hasn't eaten much. "He has a soft spot for kids. I would know." 

Downstairs, a careful conversation is taking place. Techno is glad he isn't part of it. 

Techno barely knows Tommy, so he's interested--the kid is curious and loud. Techno sees a little of himself in Tommy. 

But from the few interactions that they had, it really reminds Techno of a more shouty version of Wilbur. Someone not afraid to ask questions they want answers too, quick to make friends, and quick to get attached. 

Techno sighs. The conversation downstairs seems to have come to a stop. Someone is coming up. 

"And you'll have to be quiet, because-" Wilbur opens the trapdoor, looking down.  _ "He's asleep,"  _ he whispers. 

Philza is behind him, looking more exhausted than he should on such a quiet night. 

"So… this is 'Tommy'." 

"Yup." Techno leans a little to the side, to give Philza a better look at the kid. 

Philza carries himself closer to the bed and sits down on the edge of it. Wilbur cautiously follows. 

"And Tommy wasn't kidnapped." 

"No!" Wilbur crosses his arms. "I told everyone, and everyone agreed! Believe me!" 

The bed dips with everyone sitting on it. Philza rubs his eyes. "Wilbur, we can't just keep a random kid around. It doesn't work like that." 

"That's rich of you to say!" 

"We'll have to bring him back, he-" 

Something rustles behind them. Everyone goes silent, and turns to the sleeping kid. 

"You're gonna throw me out?" Tommy’s lip trembles. He sniffs.

"Ah-" Philza immediately fusses around, tucking the blanket closer and taking the once damp towel off his forehead. "No, no, we-" 

Tommy curls into himself like he's cold. "I'm so hungry…" 

Philza stands up. "Don't worry! Don't worry, I'll- I'll get some food!" he leaves quickly, as if all the exhaustion seeped out of him. 

The trapdoor falls shut, and Tommy unfurls, smiling weakly. Wilbur shares a conspiratory smile. "Good job, Tommy." 

Tommy turns to his side, his eye bags heavy--at least for a kid his age. "I know." 

Techno rolls his eyes. "Don't lie to Philza like that. You know he feels guilty afterward." 

"Just this once, Techno!" Wilbur grabs his arm and shakes him back and forth. 

"Once. Don't do it again." 

Tommy's and Wilbur's expression when they nod does not reassure Techno.

* * *

Philza accepted Tommy as a temporary resident, and seemingly checks in on him every 5 minutes. Wilbur has been sleeping on the couch for the past two days, Tommy still in his bed. 

The voices are conflicted about Tommy as they are about everything. Techno ignores them and heads to the nether when they get too noisy. 

Today too. He sits in a corner of one of the former blaze hangouts, occasionally looking out of the window to stare at the lava and soul sand. 

Wilbur and Philza seem different with Tommy in the house. Strangely determined, like they've finally found a new task in life that they were lacking. 

It almost feels predetermined--Techno plans on leaving, and someone new closes the empty space that he occupied for so long. He shivers as he thinks about Tommy sleeping in his basement room after he's gone. 

But that's not gonna happen. Tommy is gonna get better, and then he's going back to the Savanna village. The empty space Techno leaves behind will remain empty, waiting for him to return, always open for him. 

Tommy will leave. 

Techno will leave too, and Wilbur and Philza will sit at the dinner table alone. 

Techno will leave, and Philza has no one to watch his back when he goes into more dangerous caves. 

Techno will leave, and Wilbur will have no one to complain about Schlatt to. 

He leans against the red wall, legs hugged to his chest. He will leave and he will be free--he will see so many new things, people, towns, big cities. The stories he will tell when coming home will be exciting, something Wilbur has never heard before. 

He will leave. He spent his whole childhood leaving place after place after place, never settling down. 

It will do him good.

* * *

Tommy is a menace, and a liar. 

His fever breaks fast. His face is full of color, and he eats impossibly much. Yet every time Philza or Wilbur asks him how he feels it's always-

"I think I'm still sick… my stomach hurts so badly." 

Or

"My head, ouch- ow. No, I think I need to rest a bit more." 

Philza and Wilbur then always smile sympathetically, kindly stroking his hair back. 

Techno doesn't know how they don't see the bluff. Tommy's clearly healthy. He's just lying to them. 

After a week of Tommy leeching off of their kindness, Techno had enough. Wilbur has been complaining about his back pains, and the couch isn't made for sleeping. 

While Wilbur and Philza are in the garden, Techno is tasked with looking over Tommy. 

He spends the time silently at first, quietly reading one of the books lying around in Wilbur's room. He put the weird parenting book to the bottom of the stack, barely looking at it. 

"Wilbur said you can fight well." 

Techno glances up. Tommy is sitting upright in the bed, looking somewhere besides Techno. 

"Maybe I can." 

"Can you teach me?" Tommy leans forward. "I want to learn." 

"You're sick, though."

"After I get better!" 

Techno sighs. "And I'll ride out into the desert every week just to teach a random kid how to fight?"

"No, no…" Tommy fidgets with his hands. "I thought we could… I could…" 

"You could what." Techno closes his book. "Honesty Tommy. What are you doing? You recovered days ago. Why are you still here?" 

"I just-" he wrings the blanket between his hands. "We- Techno I want-" 

His voice grows thick. He hunches over. 

"Me and Wilbur." watery, and trembling. He continues. "He's good. He's like a brother." 

"A brother." 

"I asked him to come again, and he did. And when the well dried out and I got sick-” he rubs his eyes. “I was so happy that I got to see Wilbur.”

“You weren’t going to die from that fever.”

“I was still happy.”

Techno looks down, the closed book laying on his lap. Outside he can hear Philza and Wilbur laugh about something. “You can’t fake being sick forever.”

“I want to stay with Wilbur.”

“So tell him.”

Tommy lays down and turns away from Techno. That seems to be the end of the conversation.

* * *

“Tommy is lying to you.”

Wilbur stops in his tracks. Evening quickly approached, like it has all week. The days just seem shorter and shorter with Tommy around. Techno watches his brother sway from side to side as he expressionlessly looks back. 

“And you know it, Wilbur.”

“...What do you mean.”

“Oh-” Techno clicks his tongue in frustration. “You know what I mean! Why is everyone here except me-”

“Well.” Wilbur leans against the wall next to the ladder up to his room. “I just wanna know what you mean specifically.”

“What a really innocent thing to say.” he sighs. “You know Tommy isn’t sick.”

“Of course.”

“Of course.” Techno restlessly paces around the room. Occasionally he shuts the curtains of a window he walks past. “Of course. Do you have anything more to say?”

Wilbur throws his hands up. He doesn’t meet Techno’s eyes. “You got me, I guess. Tommy isn’t sick anymore.”

“So?”

“So, yeah.”

Techno drags his hands over his face. “What? What, yeah? What are you saying? Why are you being complicated?”

When he turns around, Wilbur is climbing up the ladder. Techno watches him wordlessly.

“Checking up on Tommy,” Wilbur clarifies.

“You-”

“Bye.”

The trapdoor noisily closes. Techno can only stare in bewilderment.

* * *

“Philza!”

He looks up from sharpening his sword, eyebrows curiously raised. “What’s up, mate?”

“You must have noticed at least, right? Tommy and Wilbur are-” he gestures vaguely. “You know?!”

“Um.” Philza puts his sword away and straightens up. “Are you-”

“Yes I’m okay! It’s Wilbur who’s acting all--weird.”

“Did you catch a fever from Tommy?” Philza stands up and walks over to Techno. He puts his hand on his forehead. “Hm. Your temperature seems fine. Are you feeling well?”

“Phil!” he whines. He hasn’t felt this frustrated in years. “Tommy isn’t sick. You know that. Wilbur knows that. Why isn’t anyone doing anything!”

“Do you want Tommy to leave?” 

Techno takes a step back. “Huh?”

“I know, sometimes it’s hard to adjust to change, so if something’s wrong you can talk to us.”

“If something’s wrong?!” Techno shrieks. “What? What are you even saying?!”

Outside, the door knocks. Both of them look towards the entrance, before turning around again.

“Phil, I don’t know if this is a prank, or if you guys have actually gone insane, but we can’t just keep Tommy in our house forever? Am I missing something?”   
“Do you not like Tommy being in our house? You can tell me.” Philza takes a step towards Techno. Techno steps back.

It knocks again.

“How about  _ you  _ tell me what’s wrong.”

Philza just blinks, disbelievingly shaking his head. Techno grits his teeth.

“Fine. I’m coming back for breakfast.” 

"Techno-" 

He rips open the door right as the person behind it knocks again. Schlatt quickly puts his hand away as he’s met with Techno’s glare.

“Dude, are you-”

“Ask me again if I’m okay and I’ll rip your dumb eyes out.”

“Sure.”

Techno rushes past Schlatt, already shivering. It’s night, and he didn’t take his jacket. He looks back once.

The door to the house is closed, but Schlatt is still standing outside. He waves at Techno. 

“Let’s take a walk.”

Techno turns around. “Going to the nether.”

“I’ll come with.”

* * *

For once, Schlatt doesn’t comment on Techno’s silence. Maybe the last time intimidated him. Or maybe he learned about a thing called being polite. Instead, he casually walks beside him.

“Was Wilbur not home again?”

“He’s home. He has been home for the past week.”

“His girlfriend broke up with him?” Schlatt laughs.

“There was no girlfriend. He’s apparently out and about becoming an older brother to random orphans.” Techno bites his cheek. These aren’t things he should tell Wilbur’s best friend. It’s too late anyways now.

“Sounds like you’re jealous.”

“Jealous?” He steps inside the nether portal. Schlatt follows--it takes some time til he can talk again. The jump between nether and overworld is a bit much, at first.

“I don’t know. You just seem angry. What the hell is going on, by the way?”   
Techno shakes his head. "I barely know. Wilbur befriended a kid, and when the kid got sick he brought it home." 

"Um…" 

"And now Tommy is healthy again, and everyone acts like he should still be there." 

Schlatt scratches at his horn. "I don't think Phil would randomly go insane. Wilbur is different but. Y'know." 

"And I talked to Phil. I did!" 

It feels weird to be the one ranting to Schlatt for once. Usually he hears Wilbur whining about this or that to his best friend. 

"I mean it's probably about you going traveling again." 

"What does that have to do with anything."

Schlatt shrugs. "I don't know. Like a replacement."

"They wouldn't-" 

"Wouldn't replace you? Okay, so what are they doing then?"

The floor doesn't give him answers when he stares at it. He closes his eyes. 

What's comforting about the nether, is the way it never changes. There isn't even a thing such as night and day, and every creature here has their own set routine. Nothing changes. Everything stays as it is. 

Techno may have been an outlier in that, but he is much more an outlier in the overworld. 

His routine wasn't waking up in the morning and taking care of the melons in his backyard. His routine is waking up and scouring the place for threats. It's the weight of a backpack, cautious eyes, and quick hands. 

That's his routine. That's his life. 

"Just confront Wilbur." Schlatt shrugs off his jacket. "If he can't escape the situation he'll eventually start crying and tell you what's really going on." 

"I don't want him to cry, but I guess…" Techno looks forward. They've been running circles in the big fortress. "I'll talk to him again." 

-

Schlatt doesn't ask for a favor as he did last time. Which is probably for the best--he can only handle one Schlatt-caused humiliation. 

As he told Philza, he returns for breakfast. Tommy is sitting at the table before everyone else is, spotting Techno first. 

"Hi." 

Techno waves, and heads to his room. He had some time to think--so before he talks to Wilbur he can pass the time with some tasks. 

He sits down on the stool before his crafting bench with a huff and takes two diamonds out of the chest next to it. Spinning it between his hands, he watches the reflection dance around his room walls. He sets them down and takes out a firm stick. It's one he spent carving nicely while in the nether, and it should fit just perfectly to the diamonds. 

He takes the hammer off the side of the workbench and delicately starts working on the new sword.

* * *

"Tommy told me you're back." 

Techno takes the glasses off his nose. He inspects the sword for a bit, gently brushing over the hilt, the blade, and then sets it aside. "Sit down." 

Wilbur walks in, almost cautious. He sits on Techno's bed. "What's up." 

He stands up, cracking his fingers. It's been quite some time since he had to work on a sword. "Just wanted to talk to you." he rolls his wrists. 

"Talk then." 

"Right to the point then, huh. Fine. Why is Tommy staying?" 

"Because." 

Techno rolls his eyes. "Stop being- okay. What about his caretakers." 

"He has none." 

"What about the village." 

"Tommy wants to stay. What's the problem?" Wilbur groans, leaning back into the bed. He talks up to the ceiling. "Fine. I'll tell you. The Savanna village was also affected by this year's food drought, like our plains village. Just that the savanna town doesn't have to trade for their ender pearls. They get them by themselves." Wilbur twists the bedsheet beneath his hand. "And then when I took Tommy, they stopped me. And they asked me something." 

Techno crosses his arms and nods for him to continue. 

"They asked me if Tommy would have a happier life living with me and Phil." Wilbur lifts his head a little. "I didn't think. I just said yes."

"Why did you say yes." 

"Why wouldn't I? Tommy's my friend." 

"Schlatt is also your friend. He's not living here, and his village was affected by the drought." 

"Schlatt is not eleven years old. Tommy is. Why are you so obsessed with this?" 

"Why am I--Wilbur, if someone else is going to live in our house, I would like to know why!" 

"It's not like it's gonna be your house for very long." 

Techno stares at his brother. Wilbur just silently looks up. 

"Is that what this is?" Techno thinks about the conversation he had with Schlatt yesterday. "Tommy is a replacement? Since I'm leaving, you'll need someone else?" 

"Obviously not." Wilbur shrugs. "You're way too obsessed with this. There's no bigger scheme to it." 

Techno sits down on the floor. Of course Wilbur didn't just adopt a random kid as replacement. Wilbur isn't like that. Philza isn't like that. They took in Tommy because they're kinder than Techno. Maybe gullible. Who even knows. 

"So Tommy's staying." 

"Yup." 

"Yup…" he leans against his crafting bench. "A warning would've been nice."

"Well here's your warning." Wilbur stands up. "Tommy is here to stay."

* * *

Tommy is kneeling in the garden, poking around at the dirt. 

Techno hears his loud laughter when he's locked in his room, followed by Wilbur's softer voice, sometimes also laughing--but when Techno enters the room, Tommy goes all quiet. His eyes stick on Techno the entire time, wide and big. When Wilbur tries to talk to him, Tommy only gives him half sentences, stumbling over his words and not saying anything of meaning in the end. 

Techno twirls the wooden training sword in his hand. He clears his throat. 

"Catch." 

Tommy swings around with a yelp, and almost even catches the sword. His reflexes aren't bad. 

"Hi." he takes the wooden sword in a stupor, eyes glued to Techno again. It's like he's not even noticing what he's holding. 

"How much experience do you have in sparring. And don't lie." 

Tommy blinks, eyes suddenly flickering down to the sword. He holds it out like he has no idea how it landed there in his arms. He rubs his nose. "I sometimes managed to win against the older kids. And they were all defensive about it afterwards, so you know they didn't go easy on me." 

Techno laughs a little. When Techno was Tommy's age, he was probably twice as good as he is right now--but that's entirely because Techno had experience, and Tommy had not. All things considered, it's very possible that he's better than Wilbur was at eleven. 

"Well alright. Let's spar. Don't hold back." 

It takes Tommy some time until he understands what Techno just told him, but when he does, it's with the giddiest expression and shining eyes. "Where's your sword?" 

"I want to gouge your skills. I'll be on the defensive for now." 

"Whatever that means." Tommy stands up, and immediately charges at Techno with a yell. 

He easily sidesteps the attack. 

There was some power in it, but it was uncoordinated and messy. Most of the power would've been lost if it actually hit. 

"Carry on. Don't get discouraged." 

Techno jumps a few steps back, followed by Tommy, with three weak slashes. At least those seem more controlled, but Techno is pretty sure he isn't doing that on purpose. 

It goes on for a while, and Techno can see the frustration within Tommy rise. All his attacks seem to lead nowhere, and his stamina runs out quick. 

Techno stops the last blow with his hand, grabbing the dull wooden blade, and carefully taking it from Tommy. The kid looks down as he regains his breath. 

"You did really well." 

"Huh?" he looks back up, and there, again, are those wide eyes. 

"You have good reflexes, and you're agile. Fast." 

Tommy trembles a little, and for a second Techno is scared that he said something to make the boy cry--but instead, a big smile breaks out on his face, bright and flustered and proud. He bops up and down on the balls of his feet.

Techno can't help but return the smile. That Tommy kid isn't so bad, maybe.

* * *

The afternoon sun is uncomfortable as always, seemingly sitting directly on Techno's hair, warming the top of his head like his brain is a furnace. 

But he doesn't even have the time to be annoyed about that--his curiosity is a tad stronger than that. 

With the big garden scissors, he clips the few melons off their stems and puts them to the side. Four in total made it--the others didn't grow in the first place, or died somewhere on the way. 

Techno is happy enough. He would be happy with a single one too. 

With precision, he balances them in his arms, and clumsily opens the backdoor with his elbow. 

All four melons make a heavy sound when he lets them roll across the kitchen counter. He takes the largest knife they own that isn't a sword and picks out a random melon. 

Somewhat perplexed he stands in front of it, trying to figure out how to cut it efficiently. 

After some thinking, he cuts it in half. It's bright red inside, dotted with black and white seeds. He quarters that half, and then slices several rows. Cutting along the rind creates many triangle-shaped slices, and he puts all of these on a big plate. 

His hands are sticky and the counter is dripping, but the melon is cut nicely. After washing his hands and wiping the counter, he sets the plate down on the table. 

"Wilbur, Phil, Tommy." 

Tommy is in the kitchen first, climbing down from Wilbur's room. Wilbur and Philza are right behind. 

"What is it?" Philza smiles, watching everyone gather in the kitchen. 

Techno just silently steps aside, to give view to the plate. 

"Ah-" Wilbur comes forward. "The melons!" 

"Are they good?" Phil sits down on his usual seat, taking a piece. 

"I haven't tasted it yet." he sits down as well. Everyone else follows. 

Tommy timidly grabs a slice, holding it under his nose and watching everyone else. Wilbur nods at him, and Tommy takes the first bite. 

"It's sweet!" mouth full, he spits out the black seeds. 

With that, everyone starts eating. The melons are pleasantly cool, a nice contrast to the burning sun outside. 

It's nice. 

Birds are chirping somewhere. Wilbur and Philza are talking. Tommy chimes in every once in a while. 

Techno tries to internalize the moment. The sun on his back, the voices of his brother and friend, the sweet taste of what he planted and cared for. Maybe they can all go to a nearby river together, and stick their legs in the water. Or maybe all of them can sit together in the living room, everyone doing their own thing. 

Techno breathes in, and smiles. 

It could be the last time, sitting here like this.

* * *

Philza helped him pack his bag in the morning.

Now, just a few hours later, they’ve all gathered at the front door, his backpack full--Philza gave him a hat for the sun, similar to the one he wears.

“So…” Wilbur findels with his hands. “Safe- Safe travels.” he clears his throat.

Techno nods. The silence seems to be unbearable for everyone. “Tommy.”

The boy looks up, eyes wide like they always are when Techno talks to him--he wasn’t like that when they first met. Techno wonders what Philza and Wilbur told him.

“Come here.” He unsheats his sword--he’s wearing it on his hip instead his back like he usually is, since that space is already occupied. “A present.”

Tommy’s mouth is agape, staring at the diamond sword. 

“Later.” he pushes it into Philza’s hands. “He’ll hold onto it for you until you can actually carry it.”

“Are you sure? This is-” Phil holds it out, fingers gliding along the carefully taken care of blade. 

“I’m sure.” he forces his eyes away from the sword. “Tommy will have more use for that sword.”

Tommy nods energetically, finally closing his mouth. His hand absentmindedly tugs at Philza’s coat as he continues watching Techno.

Techno has nothing left to say, so he turns to his horse. 

A hand on his wrists stops him--before he can react, there’s Wilbur almost tackling him to the ground. Techno leans into the hug.

_ “I’ll miss you,”  _ he says in the language that only they would understand here. They haven’t spoken anything other than english in years.  _ “Love you.” _

_ “You too.” _ Techno pats his back.  _ “Take care of Philza. And Tommy too.” _

Wilbur sniffs a little when he pulls back. Philza has his face lowered, hat hiding his eyes. Tommy just takes Philza’s hand and leans into his side.

He hops onto his horse, and watches the little group, all downtrodden. He takes a deep breath, straightens his back.

“When I come back,” he shouts, “I’ll bring back a souvenir for each of you.”

Philza shoulders shake, laughing watery. Wilbur doesn’t stop rubbing at his eyes, but there’s a stupid smile on his face.

Techno grins. “Watch out. I’ll come back stronger and better.”

“And cooler!” Tommy yells.

“And cooler.” the horse trots away, but Techno turns his head to look back at the three. “You heard him!”

A hand around the reigns and the other lifted high in a wave, the horse gallops faster. He hears shouts wishing for safety, and Tommy jumping up and down as they get smaller and smaller.

Only when they’re out of sight, Techno turns his eyes forward. He laughs as the wind hits his face--the start of a new journey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAYA i finally finished this  
> IMPORTANT this can be read as finished but i am working on a third chapter!! maybe Ill add it as a series, or maybe i'll just add a third chapter, but this story isnt finished yet!  
> i actually had a lot to say, and when i was thinking what to write here in the notes i thought, "hey, i should write all this down" and then i said "No, thats boring and too much work."  
> And now i forgot what i wanted to write  
> n e ways, thank you for reading!! if you liked it, please leave comments and kudos <33 see u next chapter

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> If ur here purely for the sbi family dynamic (understandable lol), Tommy will appear later on! Not entirely sure when the next chapter will come out, bc I started this one on Jan 1st, so that means I almost needed a month to finish this lol  
> I rlly hope you liked this! I tried to make the characters as compelling as possible while also trying to stay in character lol. Have fun, hope to see you next chapter!  
> (Kudos and especially comments are SUUUUPER appreciated)


End file.
